A Road Only She Knew

They traveled through the morning, stopping around noon to rest the horses and take a meal before setting out once more. It was only as the sun began to sink that the party found a suitable campsite and settled in for the night.

Penny climbed down from the carriage, pounding at the small of her back with her fists.

"Ugh. Riding in a carriage this long is the worst. And it makes me queasy, too."

She turned to look at Rhea, who was stepping down after her.

"How are you still so lively, Princess? It's not fair."

Rhea shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe I was just born this way."

Whether it was thanks to her spirit's power or not, her stamina had always been excellent—even in her previous life.

"Ugh, that's so unfair. You're born with this too?"

"You're holding up well enough. At least you don't get too motion-sick."

"How much farther do we have to go?"

"Hmm... At this pace, we should arrive within nine days, even being generous."

"You seem to know the route well."

Rhea turned at the sound of Luke's voice.

"Have you been to the capital before?"

"This is my first time. I just did a rough calculation."

That's a pretty precise estimate for a "rough" calculation.

It was similar to what Luke had heard from Orbin before they departed.

Rhea watched the men tidying the campsite and putting up tents with practiced efficiency.

"There are routes with far more comfortable lodgings. Did you choose to camp because of us?"

"No. His Highness dislikes official receptions. He considers being welcomed and sitting through banquets a waste of time. They also delay the schedule."

"So we'll be camping the whole way, then."

"If it's inconvenient, I can speak to His Highness about it."

"No, that's all right. If we stop in towns, there will be too many eyes. Word about us might spread before we even reach the capital."

Rhea turned to Penny.

"You're all right with that, aren't you, Penny?"

"Of course, Princess."

Penny forced a smile. If the princess said it was fine, what was she supposed to say?

Orbin approached. He bowed his head to Rhea, then spoke.

"We'll spend the night here and depart in the morning. I'll let you know as soon as the meal is ready. You may dine in the green tent over there."

"All right. Thank you."

The men bustling about with camp preparations glanced toward Rhea as she spoke with Orbin. It was unprecedented for the Commander-in-Chief to order that an outsider travel with them. That alone was enough to send questions blooming through every mind. And on top of that, Orbin and Luke—His Highness's closest aides, and the ones who truly ran the retinue—were treating her with such deference.

Who on earth is she?

But they kept those thoughts to themselves. No one in the Commander-in-Chief's retinue had a loose tongue.

Carion stepped down from the carriage and swept a quick glance over the campsite. He turned his head without thinking and found Rhea, who had somehow drawn quite close. Their eyes met, and she smiled faintly. In the next breath she was standing right in front of him.

"Your Highness, I need to speak with you."

She invaded his space so easily. He ought to have been displeased, yet the unfamiliar calm that settled over him left him disconcerted.

"What is it?"

"I was curious about the route to the capital."

"Is camping at the sites inconvenient?"

"No. I can sleep anywhere. That's not it. As we traveled, I noticed something that might be a problem with the road. It would be easier to explain if I had a map..."

"A map?"

"If you could lend me something to write with, I can sketch it roughly."

"There's a map inside the carriage. Let's go in and look. Cedric."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Tell Orbin to come in as well."

"Yes, Your Highness."

He turned toward the carriage, and a nearby attendant quickly opened the door. Carion stopped and looked back at her, his expression asking, Aren't you coming?

"Yes."

Rhea didn't decline. Truthfully, she had wanted to see the inside of that carriage for a long time.

She stepped up the folding stairs and entered first; Carion followed.

Wow...

Rhea looked around, her face full of curiosity. The space that opened before her looked like a small study. Long seats faced each other across a generous aisle, a table set between them. One entire wall was papered with maps. On the opposite wall, a compact built-in bookshelf stood packed with volumes, a rail running across the shelves to keep them from tumbling out.

The Black Star was longer than an ordinary carriage, and the interior was surprisingly spacious. A small door stood at the far end of the office—which meant there was yet another room beyond.

When Rhea looked at that door, Carion spoke.

"That's the archive. It holds classified documents, so access is restricted."

Rhea quickly averted her gaze.

"I wasn't planning to go in."

Soon the others climbed aboard as well. Carion had summoned Orbin, and Cedric's presence as his adjutant was only natural—but for some reason, Luke had come in too. The small office was packed.

"Why are you here. It's cramped. Get out."

Even as Carion scolded him, Luke stood with his hands clasped behind his back, stubbornly pretending not to hear. Carion just clicked his tongue.

Rhea looked back and forth between them with interest. The relationship between the two felt more intimate than a rigid chain of command.

"Orbin. The princess says there's a problem with our route."

Orbin looked at Rhea. She pointed to the area on the wall-mounted continental map where they currently were.

"Do you have a more detailed map of just this area?"

"We do."

Orbin found the map and spread it on the table. Rhea pointed to a spot.

"Does our route pass through here?"

"It does."

"There won't be a road. Around this time of year, the mountainside along the path collapses over and over. A carriage can't get through."

Orbin blinked, at a loss for words. Cedric spoke in a low voice.

"What's going on. Is that true?"

"I don't know—I've never taken this road at this time of year myself..."

He turned to Rhea.

"Is this information reliable? If there were recurring landslides, word should have reached us. I haven't heard anything."

"It's not on the scale you'd call a landslide. People and horses can still pass through. And this isn't a trade route, so the problem isn't widely known. It's the kind of information only those in the know share among themselves."

Orbin murmured a thoughtful hmm.

Orbin was always the one who chose their routes. He knew the various back roads connecting the entire Northeast—to keep anyone from knowing when or at which garrison the Commander-in-Chief might appear, they had to move in secret. But this particular route up to the capital was unfamiliar territory, so he had estimated it from the map alone.

Carion asked,

"Another road?"

Orbin traced a line across the map with his finger.

"We'd have to go around this way. It would take at least five extra days. That means we'd have to stop somewhere along the way. We'll need to resupply."

Rhea traced a different line on the map with her finger. Where Orbin's route was an arc, the line she drew was nearly straight.

"We can go this way."

"...This is the first I've heard of a road existing here."

"It's definitely there. There is a slight problem, though."

"A problem?"

"It's forest, so bears come through. But it's not early spring anymore. With this many people, and knights besides—what's a bear going to do?"

"You're saying a carriage can pass through the forest?"

"It's entirely possible."

"If we take this road, we'd cut more than a day off the journey. That's assuming Her Highness is correct. But I don't know this road. It's not on the map."

"I know the road. It can be confusing if you only go by the map."

Rhea looked at Carion. Then everyone's eyes turned to the one with the authority to decide.

Carion studied the map, then spoke.

"Send a few men ahead along the original route. If they confirm the road is truly impassable, we'll take the path the princess suggested."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After they left the carriage, Cedric asked Orbin,

"Why didn't you raise an objection with His Highness?"

"If the original road really is blocked by a landslide, there's nothing we can do about it."

"You said there was another road. Even if it takes much longer, a safe route would be better."

"Afraid it's a trap she laid?"

"...And you're certain it isn't? On what grounds?"

"It's suspicious in a lot of ways, I'll grant you. And it's not as if we've built enough trust. But it wouldn't matter if you or I said it a hundred times."

"What do you mean?"

"You feel it too. His Highness treats the princess differently. Have you ever seen him let anyone into the Black Star?"

"..."

"Whether it's a trap, or whether her half-baked knowledge just makes things harder for us—His Highness will learn something from the experience."

Orbin gave Cedric's shoulder a light pat and turned away. Cedric glared at his retreating back.

That man had a faintly irreverent streak. Cedric, loyal to his bones, often found Orbin's sly manner grating—all the more so because he wasn't wrong.