Chapter 7: What the Treaty Cost

Halvek was a passage, not a home. Lord Halvek made this clear with every accommodation he provided — sufficient, never comfortable, the exact minimum a treaty obligation required. Sera understood this and used the three weeks in Halvek to do what the treaty had actually bought her: time. She sent riders to the four nearest signatory nations with copies of the treaty and formal notification of her people's situation. She inventoried everything her people had carried from the mountain. She held council with the heads of families every evening, which was exhausting and necessary and occasionally gave her information she would not have otherwise had. It was in one of these councils that she learned about the valley. An elderly woman named Berta, who had been the head gardener of the palace, had a cousin three times removed who had married into a farming family in the interior valley of Soleth — a territory not governed by any of the major houses, technically administered by a council of local landholders who had, over the past century, mostly been left alone by everyone because the valley produced excellent grain and was not strategically interesting. "How large?" Sera asked. "Thirty miles wide. A hundred miles long." Berta was precise in the way of people who knew land. "Three rivers. Deep soil. Cold winters but manageable. The council is eight families." "Is it claimed?" "Soleth was claimed by the Halvek territory in 1189 and surrendered in a boundary treaty in 1203. It's been self-administering since." Berta met the queen's eyes. "My cousin's family would receive us. I believe the council could be persuaded, if approached correctly." Sera looked at the map. The valley of Soleth was not where she had planned to go. She had planned to push west, to the coastal territories where she had diplomatic connections and a chance of political support. But plans made before a volcano were different from plans made after one. "Tell me about the council," she said. "Tell me everything your cousin has written about them." Berta talked for two hours. Sera listened to every word. Addo, watching from the doorway, allowed himself a small, private relief. She was not just surviving. She was thinking. The queen they had followed down the mountain was still there.