a moment Oskan had quailed under Redrought’s fierce gaze, but then he’d answered. “She was calling to others in a relay to the north, so it must have come from the south.”
“The Polypontus, then,” the King said, and then astonished Oskan by smiling. “It looks like we’re going to meet General Scipio Bellorum at last, eh, Thirrin?”
“Yes, Dad. At last.” And she’d smiled, too.
In the warmth of his bed afterward, it all seemed unreal to Oskan. With an amazing speed, the King had sent out messages to all points of the compass calling out the fyrd and ordering the regiments of royal housecarls to march south immediately. Redrought, though, seemed to be planning to follow the day after Yule with the cavalry. Obviously he didn’t think the invasion was imminent and was coolly determined to enjoy the Yuletide Feast before going anywhere.
“Do you think the Lady Theowin will know what’s going on?” Thirrin had then asked.
“Certain to,” Redrought had answered. “Her scouts keep a close eye on the border every day of the year. She and her housecarls will keep any invading force busy until we get there. But judging by what your new allies the Wolffolk were saying, the invasion hasn’t happened yet; they were just worried they wouldn’t be ready in time to help.”
Thirrin had glowed with pleasure. Her insistence on an alliance with at least some of the creatures from The-Land-of the-Ghosts was already paying off. But then Redrought had begun to doubt the reports of the emergency.
“You are fluent in wolf speech, aren’t you?” he’d boomed at Oskan.
“Oh yes, sir,” Oskan had answered confidently. “My mother taught me before I could even read or write.”
“You can read!” Redrought had bellowed in surprise. Picking up his precious Book of the Ancestors that still lay next to his chair, he opened it at random and told Oskan to read where his finger pointed. Oskan had done so, and when Redrought had looked inquiringly at Grimswald and the old chamberlain had nodded, he’d grunted in satisfaction and smiled.
“You have a learned adviser, Daughter! Use him well.” Both Oskan and Thirrin had blushed at that, and the King laughed hugely.
“Now, Grimswald, bring my cloak and boots! We’re going to the lookout tower to see if Thirrin’s allies are saying anything else about General Scipio Bellorum.”
Oskan shivered in his bed as he remembered the icy cold of the winds blowing about the high tower that reared above the battlements of Frostmarris. The city lay below them, tiny and hard-looking under the moonlight, like an exquisite toy carved out of crystal. He’d stared in fascination at the tangled pattern of streets and alleyways that tied a knot of connections between the four main gates of the city, but then he’d tensed as the thin wailing of the Wolffolk slipped through the cold night air like a blade.
The voice was torn to tatters by the wind, and Oskan had to wait for the cycle of howling to begin again before he had it all.
“Well?” the King had boomed through a storm cloud of steaming breath. “What are they saying?”
“It’s a reply from the north,” Oskan had answered. “The muster has begun, but they expect it to take months to gather all their warriors together. They say the invasion will happen before that, perhaps in less than a week, but they’ll be ready to help the Princess … if she still lives.”
“Hmm, optimistic bunch,” Redrought had said in a tone that was quiet for him.
“There’s something else,” Oskan had then said. “The Wolffolk say they could have warned the Princess directly, but they didn’t think they could have reached Frostmarris without being killed by the city guards before they’d even seen her.”
“Good point,” the King admitted. “Still, we know now, thanks to you, Oskan. The fyrd has been called out over the whole country. My professional housecarls will set off within the hour and begin a forced march south, and I’ll lead out the cavalry the day after Yule. We should overtake the housecarls by the following day and arrive together in the Southern Riding the day after that.”
“Five days,” Thirrin had said quietly. “And the Wolffolk expect the invasion within a week.”
“Well, I don’t expect it before the week’s up,” Redrought had said confidently. “I’ve heard nothing from Lady Theowin yet, and her scouts will certainly have noticed any buildup of troops below the southern border. So it can only just have started to happen. It’s no easy matter maneuvering an army the