'Well, of course I am!' George exploded. 'If you're staying, I'm staying with you. I'm your friend. Friends don't run off and desert other friends just because there's a bit of danger! All right, I carried on about my arm hurting. But I'm not afraid, Horace. I'm not some kind of coward who'll go slinking off and leave you to face the danger on your own!'
Horace was nodding as the scribe delivered this impassioned response. George wasn't a coward, he knew. Far from it. But facts were facts and they had to be faced.
'George,' he said calmly, 'you're seriously injured with that arm. But even if you were in perfect health, you wouldn't be up to the journey we're about to undertake.'
'Don't worry about me!' George said, with considerable spirit, regardless of the fact that his voice would carry clearly to the Nihon-Jan warriors a few metres away. 'I'll keep up all right. I won't hold you back!' But he saw Horace shaking his head again and, deep down, George knew that the tall young warrior was right.
'You wouldn't want to hold us up,' Horace said. 'And I know you'd try your best. But you're not cut out for this sort of life, George. For starters, you're not a good enough rider.'
'I…' George stopped. He knew it was true.
'You're riding the slowest horse in the group,' Horace pointed out. 'If the rest of us have to come down to his pace, you will be slowing us down. It won't be your fault, George. But if Shigeru is going to escape Arisaka, we're going to have to ride fast and live rough. And if we're waiting for your slow horse all the time, we're putting the Emperor's life at risk. Surely you don't want that?'
Horace thought it was more tactful to blame the horse for George's potential to slow the group down. It was true up to a point but George saw through the device. He had a slow, old horse because he was a poor rider and a slow, old horse was all he could handle.
He hung his head miserably. 'I'm just not good enough, am I?' he said in a low voice.
Horace reached over in the saddle and patted his shoulder.
'It's not that you're not good enough,' he said. 'You're just not trained for this sort of life. You're at home in diplomatic meetings, working out complex treaties between countries, and in courtrooms, coming up with a brilliant argument to save somebody's life or property. That's what you're good at. That's what you've trained for. On the other hand, this is what I've trained for.' Horace swept his arm around the mountainous countryside that surrounded them as he said the words. George wouldn't meet his gaze. His narrow shoulders rose and fell as he heaved a deep sigh.
'I know,' he said finally.
'Besides, I need you to get word back to Araluen, so they'll know what's become of me. I can't just disappear off the face of the earth without telling people where I've gone.'
George raised his eyes to meet Horace's then. 'You think you're going to die here, don't you?' he said quietly. 'You don't think Shigeru has a chance.'
Horace shook his head. 'George, I never go into any fight thinking I'm going to lose.'
'But you said you can't just disappear off the face of the earth. That doesn't sound like you're too confident.'
Horace grinned at him then. 'That's the trouble with you attorneys,' he said. 'You're too darned literal. Let's just say my disappearance will be a temporary matter.'
George's face was screwed up as his mind moved rapidly. 'If I could get word to Will and Halt,' he said, 'they might come to help you. In fact, they'd surely come to help you.'
'It's a great idea,' Horace said sadly. The thought of having the two Rangers by his side in this affair was an extremely attractive one. 'But it's a pipe dream. It'll take you months to get all the way back to Araluen. By that time, things here will be well and truly settled – one way or another.'
But now George was bubbling over with enthusiasm for his idea.
'No! No! No! I don't have to get all the way back! I only need to get to Indus! From there, I can use the Silasian fast message service. That'll get word to them within a few days!'
Horace looked at his companion with new respect. 'You see?' he said. 'That's what you're good at. Thinking. Coming up with ideas. Let me tell you, if you can get word to Will and Halt, you'll be doing much more good than if you simply stayed here with us.'
'And got in the way?' George said, grinning now. Horace returned the grin.
'Exactly.' He offered his hand to George, who took it and gripped it warmly. Before he released his own grip, Horace added, 'One other thing. I will never forget that you offered to stay here, George. It took a lot more courage for you to offer that than it took me. I appreciate it and, when I get home, I'll be letting people know about it.'
George finally reclaimed his hand and made a small self-deprecating gesture, although Horace's words had warmed his heart.
'Well…you know. It wasn't much. I mean…we were wardmates, weren't we? That's what wardmates do for each other. They stick together. No big deal.'
'Very big deal,' Horace said firmly. 'And I won't forget it.'
Toscana 'Then I'm coming with you!' Will said impulsively.
Halt smiled to himself at the instant response. He had expected no less of his former apprentice. Horace, after all, was Will's best friend. They had grown up together, fought side by side and saved each other's lives on numerous occasions.
Evanlyn favoured Will with a warm smile as well. 'I was sure you'd say that,' she said. 'My father gave me permission to ask for your help on this mission but I told him there'd be no need to ask. Thanks, Will. I'll feel a lot more confident with you by my side.'
'Of course, I'll come too,' Halt said, then added with a raised eyebrow, 'That's if I'm needed?'
'Lady Pauline said you'd say that,' Evanlyn told him. 'She said you should go with her blessing.'
Will glanced quickly at his mentor, not sure how Halt would react to the assumption that he needed Lady Pauline's permission to join the expedition. The Halt he knew of old would have come up with some pithy reply to the effect that he was quite capable of making his own decisions, thank you very much. He was a little surprised to see Halt smile fondly at Evanlyn's words.
'Well, that's a relief,' Halt said, without the slightest trace of irony.
Now it was Will's turn to raise an eyebrow – an expression he had studiously copied from Halt over the years. Things had changed, he thought.
Alyss cleared her throat nervously and they turned to look at her. There was a bright spot of colour in each of her cheeks.
'I'd like to come too,' she said. 'Horace is one of my oldest friends. He helped Will rescue me from Castle Macindaw and I owe him for that. Besides, you'll need someone who can speak Nihon-Jan.'
The words were phrased as a suggestion. But her tone left no doubt that they were a firm statement of intent. She wasn't asking permission. She was telling Evanlyn that she wasn't letting her go swanning off to the other side of the world with Will. Not this time.
'Yes, Lady Pauline said you'd say that, too,' Evanlyn said dryly. She wished she could reassure the tall girl that she had no designs on Will, other than friendship. She could see that Alyss could be a valuable friend and ally to her – not just in this case but in the years to come – and she wished there was some way she could break down the barrier between them. Maybe this journey might give her the opportunity.
Halt thought it might be best if he stepped in. 'It sounds like a good idea to me,' he said. 'Alyss is a handy person to have around.'
Alyss remained flushed. She had been prepared to argue the point and hadn't expected Evanlyn to give in so easily. At the back of her mind, a small doubt formed. Maybe she had been judging Evanlyn too harshly. But she forgot the thought as Will asked her a question.
'Do you speak Nihon-Jan? When did you learn?'
She shrugged, feeling her pulse settle back to normal now that there was no longer any question about her accompanying the party.
'I've been studying the language for a year or so,' she replied. 'Mostly using George's translations. I'm not fluent but I can get by.'
Will raised both eyebrows. 'Well, you learn a new thing every day,' he said reflectively.
'In your case, that's no exaggeration,' Halt said, completely straight-faced.
Will pursed his lips in annoyance. He'd have to learn not to give Halt openings like that, he thought. Then another question occurred to his grasshopper mind and he turned to Evanlyn.
'How do we get there? How did you get here, by the way?'
He heard Halt's deep sigh and knew he'd done it again.