"The future changes even as we begin to live it," he said. "Let us call it simply a well-founded hope. We wish you luck on your journey Enna. The omens are promising for that also."
He bowed and sat down with his face turned away indicating that the conversation was finished.
"Well," said Tomas later as we rode away down the road. "This bodes well. They say they're planning to follow the Gallian army into Moria. They expect them in the next three days."
"Are they going to join it then?" I asked thinking again of how there had only been young people in the group.
"Possibly" said Tomas. "Usually they regard any kind of violence as an abomination. Even skill in fighting is disliked by them."
He had changed horses with Parrus so that now, as was proper, I was riding pillion behind my supposed husband. This meant I could see Tomas and Hamel's faces but not Parrus'.
Still I knew very well what he must look like as he said in a scoffing tone, "So they're just going to sit there for several days doing nothing, are they?"
My brothers exchanged a tolerant but amused glance. I couldn't help feeling embarrassed at how narrow-minded Parrus sounded. I resisted the strong temptation to poke him in the ribs.
"I imagine there'll be a few more of them when the Duke does come," said Hamel. "I got the impression this was a general movement. He must be going to win. Otherwise surely they wouldn't follow him."
"Humph," said Parrus, earning another amused glance from my brothers. This time however I was too interested in what my brothers were saying to worry.
"Do you really think so?" I asked. I had always been fascinated by the Wanderer's powers of foretelling which were very much respected, even in Gallia where they were not well known. Wanderers were very reluctant to talk about such things to outsiders but it seemed my brothers knew something about the subject and I was determined to get it out of them.
"So do you think it is a sign that he will win?"
"Now, be careful." said Tomas, "There's nothing certain about foretelling. Like that Wanderer said. Our actions now are forever changing the future. Just because they say it's their fate to follow the Duke doesn't necessarily mean he's going to win this War, though it is a good sign."
"Well it would be pretty stupid to follow the Duke if they've foreseen he's going to lose, wouldn't it?" said Parrus.
"Foretelling isn't as simple as that," said Tomas. "It's not like the foretelling of our mages where they cast a spell and if they are lucky get a vague idea of the outcome of events. Though Wanderers do do that and do it well, their foretellers have the ability to see visions of events in the future. But they have no idea how those events will come about."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well take those Wanderers we just passed. They may be waiting at the border because, one or more likely, several of their foretellers has seen a vision of their following the Ducal Army into Gallia. And other foreteller may have seen visions of them living happily in Gallia in the future. But they can't really be sure if it is the first vision that leads to the second. This war may end in a terrible rout for the Duke and they may wind up living happily in Gallia for completely different reasons in the future."
"Well it hardly seems much good then, does it?" snorted Parrus.
"It is a thing to be very careful of and the Wanderers are. The truth is not the truth till it comes true they say. They only act on prophecies after careful discussion with each other and with people called Judges. They are those to whom it is given to be able to see when a prophecy should be acted upon. Our mother is supposed to have had this gift. She was much respected among them for it."
I remembered what Hamel had said about her knowing the right thing to do. I wanted to ask more but Hamel interrupted.
"Glassybri ahead," he said.
I froze. I had been so interested in what Tomas had been saying that I had forgotten that this ride was taking us into Moria. If Glassybri was in sight we must already be over the border. I was committed.
As we approached the high white-washed walls of Glassybri we passed many people going back towards Gallia. They were almost all Gallians, but here and there was a richly clad Ishtaki merchant. If the Ishtaki, those angels of commerce, were leaving, the future must look bad for the Church of the Burning Light. It was difficult for me to see ahead, riding as I was behind Parrus, but finally I could see the tall walls of the town before us. About that time we were forced to halt. A great crowd of people was lined up on the road waiting to enter Glassybri and we joined the queue. The sound of crying babies and complaining donkeys came from the line before us. Every now and then one of the gates seemed to swing open for a short time and the queue would move forward. Our horses snorted restlessly and moved their feet. As we waited, my palms became sweaty with fear though I kept telling myself to be calm. Behind us the line of people grew. In front of us a group of travelling masons and a mercenary played dice in the dust of the road.
Eventually we got close enough to the gates to see that they were letting groups of people through ten at a time.
Once there was shouting behind the gate and the tingling feeling of magic. I craned my head to look but Tomas pushed me back.
"Don't draw attention to yourself. And act like you don't know us. You two will be safer that way."
At that moment the gate swung open in front of us revealing a dark, narrow street within. The soldier at the gate counted ten of us through and the gate swung shut behind us.
Inside, the street was cordoned off and groups of soldiers and hard-faced women in the black and grey garb of Sisters of Light, the nuns of the Burning Light, stood beside it. We were ordered to stop and dismount. Tomas and Hamel had moved away from us so that they stood at the other side of the group. A man in grey and black had approached them.
"Well well," he was saying, "if it isn't Tomas Holyhands." Then I stopped watching them because the same kind of official had come up to us. He looked over the papers Parrus handed him with a disbelieving air.
"Borgonese, Hey? Very convenient. Ren Parrus Latrides. A merchant? Why are you coming into Moria?"
"My wife has a sister deathly ill in Annac. She wants to see her before she dies," said Parrus in his halting Morian.
The official had lost interest in Parrus even before he stopped talking.
"And you," he barked at me. "Answer. Where were you born?"
He questioned me quickly in Morian. Had I not been a native speaker, I might well have got flustered and made some mistake. As it was I was glad I'd spent three days speaking Morian to my brothers. You lose fluency in any language even your own, if you don't speak it.
Then he lifted up a crystal ball and pressed it against my forehead. I knew that ball. It turned blue in the presence of any trace of magic. I hoped Parrus had been careful as I had been not to use magic for the last ten hours. Still I felt frightened. What if they decided to do a mind search?
The official turned and barked at the waiting soldiers, "Search this lot. Jacques, Woody take the woman."
I was seized and pulled ungently towards the cordon. I squeaked in fright and might have used magic against them, but I was wearing the necklace and could do nothing.
"Hey! What are you doing with my wife?" shouted Parrus.
"Stand still," said the leader. He was running the ball over Parrus while one of the soldiers patted him down. Two soldiers began to pull our bags roughly from the saddle.
"Don't worry girlie," said one of my captors, not unkindly. "We have to search for healers."
He pushed me through the cordon where I was seized by two of the hard-faced women and hustled into a nearby alley.
"Am I being arrested for something?" I cried, too scared to think clearly.
"Maybe!" said one of them, a tall dour woman with cold black