The Novels of the Jaran
of her horse, that she eats, is warm, and is always ready to ride. Do you understand?” It sounded more like a threat than a request.
    “Yes, Ilya. Of course, Ilya.”
    “Terese Soerensen, until such time as we arrive at a port and can put you on a ship, you will abide by my decisions and my orders. You don’t know this land. I do. You will ride with me and at other times will stay with Yurinya. If for some reason you can’t ride with me, you’ll ride with Nikolai Sibirin. Do you understand?”
    “Yes. I know I’m inexperienced, but I’ll learn.”
    “You’ll have to. Yuri, come with me. Excuse us.” He took Yuri by the wrist, as if he was a child, and dragged him away so fast that Yuri stumbled over his own feet and could only manage a brief, despairing glance at Tess before he vanished with Ilya into the darkness of the camp.
    Tess had a sudden premonition that Yuri was in for a bad time. She circled the crowd, seeking Sonia, and found her talking easily with one of the men who had ridden in that day. Sonia had laid a hand on the man’s arm as casually as if he were her husband, and their heads were close enough together as they spoke that it gave them an intimate appearance. When Tess hesitated, unsure whether to interrupt, Sonia glanced up, saw her, and excused herself immediately.
    “What is it?”
    Tess told her.
    “Ah. You were right to come to me. Ilya will be furious at being outmaneuvered. You wait here.”
    “No, I ought to come with you.”
    “As you wish, but stay in the shadows. It will be better for Yuri if Ilya does not know you fetched me.”
    Tess followed Sonia into camp. Tents surrounded them, cutting off the distant glow of the great fire. There was no sound, no movement, except for the wailing of a child that faltered and stilled. Tess had to move slowly, hands out to either side, fingers occasionally brushing the coarse fabric of a tent wall. Sonia had lost her, but as the music started up again behind, she heard voices ahead, a quiet counterpoint to the distant melody of celebration. She stumbled over a guy-rope and froze, stopped by the voices coming from right around the edge of the tent.
    “You deliberately used my aunt’s authority to undercut mine.” Bakhtiian’s tone was so cutting that Tess instantly regretted ever asking Yuri for help. “Of course I would not object, since I did not suspect what you and she were planning.”
    “I didn’t think—”
    “Obviously you didn’t think, Yuri. Women don’t ride with the jahar. Her inexperience will slow us down and could be dangerous.”
    “But that’s why I gave her the lessons.”
    “If she couldn’t ride, there would be no question of her traveling with us, would there?”
    “But you just said yourself that—”
    “Have you ever bothered to ask yourself why she is here? Or wonder why the priest says she is a spy—”
    “You don’t really believe—”
    “Had I finished speaking?”
    The pause that followed was both heavy and uncomfortable. Into it, the distant music metamorphosed from a slow, pacing number into a frantic tune.
    “Well, Ilya,” said Sonia, walking into their silence with all the aplomb of an angry and protective older sister. When Sonia spoke, clear and carrying, Tess abruptly realized that they were all speaking in Rhuian, a family quarrel that no one else could understand. “Have you finished bullying Yuri how? Or shall I leave until you are done?”
    “This is men’s business, Sonia.”
    “Is it, indeed? When two men meet in the dark to discuss a woman, I call that women’s business. Yuri, you may go.”
    “I haven’t given him permission—”
    “Ilya. Must I speak to Mama about your manners?”
    “Go on, Yuri,” he said curtly.
    Tess, standing frozen behind the dark wall of a tent, did not see in which direction Yuri fled.
    “You have made your point, Sonia,” said Bakhtiian coldly. “Have I your permission to leave?”
    “Certainly, Ilyakoria. But I am curious as to why you

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