Sean Michael Between Friends 01 Between Friends
Beaton M.C. Hamish Macbeth 01 Hamish Macbethi ĹmierÄ plotkary
Miller Henry Zwrotnik Raka 01 Zwrotnik Raka
McNish Cliff Tajemnica zaklÄcia 01 Tajemnica zaklÄcia
Kurtz, Katherine Adept 01 The Adept
Malin Wolf Drachenkrieger 01 Drachenliebe
Jo Clayton Drinker 01 Drinker Of Souls
Jay D. Blakeny The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice 01 The Sword
Antologia BarbarzyĹcy [Rebis] 01 BarbarzyĹcy_ Tom 1 (1991)
Diana Hunter [Submission 01] Secret Submission [EC] (pdf)
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
discourage others: as a rule manticores disliked fire. Beside it, Tagalong
laughed and rolled the bones. Two soldiers, the last by the fire besides the
sentry, cursed. Aejys turned aside and stood over them as yet unnoticed.
"You must let them win once in awhile, Tag," she said.
Tagalong Smith looked up with a wry grin. "But, Aejys."
"Give them back their money," Aejys said in a quietly stubborn voice.
The men watched her with undisguised interest.
"Ah, but Aejys, ya can't mean it! I won it fair."
"Give them back their money," Aejys repeated, her tone going stern.
One of the myn sniggered and the other elbowed him. The sentry paused to
watch.
The line of Aejys' mouth hardened and stillness came over her like the earth
in moments before a storm. "You're Johannes' myn, are you not?"
The pair hastily stood up, brushing their tunics off and coming to attention.
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
They looked at each other for a moment, obviously flustered. "Yes, Mistress."
Page 141
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"I thought Johannes at least instructed you on how to address a Sharani of my
rank."
Their fluster turned to discomfort. "Master? Lord?"
"Better. Those are titles of power in your lands. The power here is mine.
Johannes works for me. Therefore you work for me. I'll tolerate no disrespect.
Of me or my lieutenants. Understood?"
The two mercenaries nodded. "Yes, Lord Aejys," they said together.
"Make certain your comrades understand also, because I'll skin the next mon
alive." Then she turned to Tagalong, "Give them back their money."
Tagalong pulled her winnings out of her pockets and made a small pile on the
ground.
"If you don't want to lose, don't play with her," Aejys further admonished
them. "Her luck is legendary in my lands. Dynanna, God of Cussedness, blessed
her with it. Now, come on, Tag. We've got other things to take care of before
we sleep."
The camp cot that Aejys slept on was larger and better made than those of her
soldiers, but it was still just a cot with a blanket and a favorite heavy
quilt thrown over it. She did not believe in the kind of aristocratic nonsense
that led other commanders and nobles during the war to bring along their heavy
beds, dozens of servants and attendants with strings of sutlers and camp
followers bringing up the rear. A long cedar chest made a night stand at the
head of the cot. Two leather campstools stood opposite the cot. Tagalong
settled on the ground, one knee drawn up, and her right arm draped over.
Tamlestari moved her stool as close to Aejys as possible. Aejys opened the
chest, taking out four ceramic cobalt blue cups decorated with bits of shell
followed by a bottle of blood red wine.
She passed around the cups of wine, then pulled off her boots and settled
cross-legged on the cot. "Ah! That's much better." Aejys massaged her toes.
"I'd forgotten what it felt like to spend a long day with my feet in heavy
boots. I don't do that very often anymore."
"Ya used ta sleep in 'em," Tagalong pointed out between pulls from her cup.
"I probably will again once Margren starts throwing stuff at us."
"You really think Margren's going to hit us?" Tamlestari asked.
"Yes," Aejys said. "You saw the letter. She must have substantial forces out
here of some kind. And I'll wager they're not Sharani or I would have heard by
now."
"Native's my guess. Margren was always trouble," Tagalong growled shifting
into flawless Sharani, "I remember she tried to knife you for saving her from
that unicorn stud the summer she turned twelve."
Surprise showed on every face, all the cross talk died. Aejys realized that
they were all staring at her expectantly. She felt naked and exposed.
Tagalong, who had always been so careful with her secrets, now seemed
determined that all of them concerning Margren be dumped in public view. "Tag,
that's enough!"
"I have never heard that one," Cassana said.
Page 142
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Tag and Kaethreyn, my ma'aram, are the only ones who know." Aejys swirled
the wine in her cup, downed it in one quaff. "Kaethreyn called me a liar." She
felt as if rocks were gathering in her stomach. She did not fear war and
death. But the feelings and memories seemed ready to swallow her whole if she
let them out: that loss of control terrified her more than anything else in
her life. "I have always believed," Aejys formed her words with slow care,
"that speaking ill of Margren was somehow breaking my vow."
"Lying would be. Even perhaps relating tales of her misbehavior to someone
who might be influenced by your words," Cassana said, "but the truth to
someone who already opposes her, I think not. You are not doing her a damage
by telling us things we already suspect."
"I have never been one to speak of the things that trouble me. This is not
easy."
"Then maybe it is time you told someone else and started now," Cassana said
gently insistent. "We are putting our lives, our honor and our fortunes on the
line. We have a right to know."
Aejys almost disagreed, but Suthana's admonition at the shrine that she 'lean
into the sharp points,' echoed in her mind. Her hand went to the gray scarf
tied to her arm. More than anything else she wanted to be whole and clean in
her God's sight. Aroana, have mercy on my soul. "We're full sisters, womb and
blood and sire," Aejys told them. "I was fifteen, Margren twelve. Our High
Priest, Sonden, bowing to our ma'aram's insistence, had given Margren one last
chance to bond with a wynderjyn yearling. They kept rejecting her."
"So the rumors were true," Cassana said. "It is not unheard of, just
infrequent among the noble houses."
Aejys nodded. "That does not lessen the humiliation. A daughter of a ruling
family who can never be more than a simple knight."
"If yer not goin' ta tell it, I will," Tagalong interjected, sliding back
into common. "I got a special dispensation ta accompany Aejys as body servant.
They did not want ta give me that much, except that I was an Angtraden and
some of the bradae, the priests, and especially Sonden, were wantin' favors
from my father and his smiths."
"Now we are getting even farther from the tale!" Tamlestari exclaimed.
"Please, Aejys. I would like to hear it; to understand better."
Aejys met Tamlestari's eyes and saw there such worship and love as a young
warrior bestowed only on a much older lover and mentor. It gently prodded her,
as force would not have. "I was one of the older students privileged to help
move the herds to their late spring pasturage. I was just six weeks shy of
sixteen. I would never get another chance to do it." Joy at the request.
Sonden asking her himself. The touch of his soft hands on her callused ones as
she knelt and kissed the Aroanan Rune on his ring. Her stomach tightened still
more. The good memories hurt more than the bad ones. "Margren did not want me
there. She asked Kaethreyn to persuade me not to go. Or order me." Aejys drew
a deep breath and heaved it out again. She stood wincing before her ma'aram's
wrath at her refusal. Saw Margren peeping from the doorway, a smug smile on
her thin face. "But it was such an honor ... my last summer before my vows
that winter. I refused to listen to either of them. Margren avoided me all she
could." Margren greeting her with a silent glare, refusing to speak, and
stalking off. Publicly snubbing her. "All summer Margren watched the younger
girls bonding with their yearlings. I know it hurt her. It would have hurt me.
Page 143
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
And always the wynderjyns rejected her. In the wee hours of one morning ... I
had been trysting with Brendorn in the woods..."
"He was not supposed to be there," Tagalong said.
"I know. I know." Aejys picked up her pipe, filled, and lit it. She took [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
