Errant by Armas Florian

Author:Armas, Florian [Armas, Florian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-09-02T22:00:00+00:00

***

I left home the next morning, and for two days, I rode watching the roads going east, polishing my plan – the only hope to obtain a status that could bring Saliné back to me. Nothing happened until Panait and his caravan came my way, late in the evening, when everything was prepared for the night.

“Tudor!” he shouted, pushing his horse closer to me. “I am glad to meet you. I had to move on short notice and couldn’t find you in time.” Usually I knew well in advance when his caravans were leaving Arad, as there was no way for him to send a courier after me. “Are you free? You are my favorite protector,” he smiled.

“For five days,” I said, evasively. “Where are you going?”

“Mehadia and then Histria.”

“I can travel with you for the next four days. Just for the pleasure of talking with an old friend,” I signaled that there would be no charge for my services but also no more days – for a while, we were going in the same direction, and I was eager to hear what had pushed him on the road on ‘short notice’.

My camping place was not suited for a large caravan, and I lead them further, for another half-turn, until we arrived in the proximity of a low plateau that I knew well, close to the road and accessible to their wagons.

“Good place,” Panait said, appreciatively; the plateau was thirty feet higher than the road, making the wagons invisible from there, and a ravine blocked access to half of the perimeter.

“How is Delia?” I asked Panait, after dinner ended and we strolled away from the main group.

“Still pregnant,” he smiled, in the faint light of the dusk, his voice filled with joy – their marriage was five years old and without children.

“Just for two more months,” I joked back. “Or even less. This is what set you on the road?”

“That and more.” His voice went instinctively lower. “Troubles may come and keep us at home.” For merchants that kind of trouble was war, and I had trouble of my own: his information came from Arad, and I knew nothing.

I was there a month ago. What has changed so fast? “War?” I asked, abruptly.

“I am not sure, but I don’t want to take risks. Especially now,” he alluded to Delia’s pregnancy. “There were some rumors about troops gathering in a month or two, and some embassies from Mehadia and Dorna. Duke Stefan sent an army to our northern border.”

This war will kill my own plans. I need a month or two… Maybe I still have time.

“And Cantemir was nervous when I left, something is wrong in the high place.” That was Panait’s way of naming Orban’s palace. “He wanted to go to Mehadia, but sent me when he learned about my caravan leaving.”

Merchants were also diplomats, but the stakes of his mission were low; if not, someone from the court would have been sent. Then why was Cantemir supposed to go? Something changed at the last moment.

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