Kara had listened in silence, her mouth dry as she tried to absorb the implications of Roman's words. At last, she said, 'You make it sound as though you expect me to take on some mantle of hereditary office. I'm not that sort of person, Roman.'

'Neither was my mother, until my father died suddenly,' Roman told her. 'She was very much like you, a carefree country girl with a good heart and plain good sense. And so shall you remain, while I have breath in my body.

'But enough! It is late, and we are very nearly home. I will deal with the enemy while you prepare for our wedding.'

Kara stared. 'Roman, I don't know the first thing about planning a wedding!'

'Then improvise.'

'Wh-'

'Sh!' Roman silenced her with a curt gesture and stopped the trap. The sudden silence, but for the quiet susurrus of Toro's breathing, was so profound as to be hurtful to the ear. The trap creaked once as Roman slipped noiselessly to the ground. Reaching up, he picked Kara lightly up by the waist, and set her on the ground, a finger to his lips. Taking her by the arm, he then led her off into the utter darkness of the bush and made her kneel down in the grass beside a tree. Almost mouthing the words into her ear, his breath warm and almost overpoweringly evocative, he said, 'Do not whisper! A whisper may carry for long distances. Speak as I am speaking.

'I heard someone cough up ahead, and curse when we stopped. Toro will not stand idle for long, this close to home. After a time he will begin moving. When he does, we will slip away. For now, we wait.'

They didn't have to wait long. Toro blew impatiently, tossed his head, stamped a foot, then nudged the wagon forward a bit to see if the brake was engaged. Feeling no resistance, he took a tentative step forward. Then another. Sensing no remonstrance from the two humans he knew to be nearby, he began walking, slowly, drawing Roman's mount along in his wake.

Using the noise of the trap as cover, Roman quickly led Kara straight into the greater darkness of the forest. Kara was utterly blind in the dark, and very much afraid, and had to rely wholly on Roman's certitude and the light pressure of his grip on her arm. For all she knew, they could have been walking about aimlessly for hours, until they crested a hill and she noticed a light in the distance.

'There is the Casa,' Roman told her. 'We will circle around and approach from the south side where the darkness is total.'




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