Fool's Errand by Maureen Fergus Page A

don’t see how setting aside our beautiful clothes is going to allow us to proceed onward alone with all due haste,” she said in a slightly garbled voice.
    â€œLook around you, Princess,” replied Azriel, his blue eyes glowing in the reflected light of the flames. “What do you see?”
    As she chewed and swallowed her bite of bread, Persephone looked around. At first, she saw nothing of note.
    Then it dawned on her.
    â€œFive men, ten women, five boys, fifteen horses and five dogs,” she said slowly. “All the men are dressed alike, all the women and boys are dressed alike. The horses are covered in identical hoods and long blankets; the dogs could be littermates. Split us into five groups, each containing one man, two women, one boy, three horses and one dog, and from a distance, it would be impossible to tell which group is which.”
    â€œExactly,” said Azriel with satisfaction. “In a moment, you, Rachel, Mateo and I will begin riding hard toward the Gypsy camp. The other four groups will also begin riding hard, each in a different direction. The Regent is almost certainly having us followed, you see, and I intend to give his dogs the slip.”
    Instead of applauding Azriel’s cleverness (as he rather appeared to expect her to do) Persephone gaped at him in horror. “And you thought that the best way to give his dogs the slip would be to use these people as decoys?” she exclaimed. “Azriel, have you even considered what is going to happen to them if—or, more likely, when —they get caught? The Regent despises lowborns almost as much as he despises Gypsies, and I am quite certain that his soldiers will not appreciate being played for—”
    â€œPrincess?” murmured a voice at her other side.
    â€œWhat?” she cried, whipping her head around.
    The man was on one knee, hand over his heart. “All those you see before you knew the risks before we set out,” he said with quiet dignity. “It would be wrong to look upon us as decoys, Your Highness, for in truth we are soldiers in your service. And while we are touched and humbled by your concern for our well-being, I assure you it is not necessary. Though Azriel has not told us the purpose of the journey that lies before you, he has assured us that it is for the good of the realm and for the promise of better days to come for all people. To play even a small role in the pursuit of such lofty ambitions is more than most of low birth could ever dream of. And that is why, even if Azriel had not given each of us gold enough to ensure that our families would hereafter be well provided for, there is not one among us who’d not have volunteered for this mission.”
    Just as he finished speaking, a blinding ray of sunlight burst over the horizon, heralding the arrival of dawn. Persephone blinked into the glory before looking back down into the face of the kneeling man at her side. She knew that to protest anything he’d said would be to insult him and all those who were about to risk their lives for her. Not for the first time, she thought that being a princess was going to be far more difficult than being a slave had ever been.
    Reaching out, she laid a tentative hand upon the man’s hooded head and said, “Then let me thank you for the service you will do for me this day and promise that it shall never be forgotten.”
    As the man bowed his head in gratitude and reverence, a screech from high overhead brought a smile to Persephone’s lips. Squinting up into the early morning sky she beheld Ivan, the proud and fearless hawk who’d followed her halfway across the realm, ever escaping those who sought to master him—the hawk who chose that particular moment to deliver an excessively large splatter of droppings to the top of Azriel’s head.
    At the sight of Azriel hopping about in disgust while hawk shit dripped down the sides of his hood like the