Read Online Deception's Pawn (Princesses of Myth) by Esther Friesner - Free Book Online
Authors: Esther Friesner
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me about a place in the woodland near Dún Beithe, a clearing marked only by the moss-shrouded stump of an ancient stone. No one knew if it was the work of nature or the remnant of some lost or hidden passage to the Otherworld. Who would dare scrape away its soft green cloak to see if it bore the carved symbols the Fair Folk sometimes left behind?
The first time Kian gave me our signal, it took me several false starts before I reached the clearing. Luck seemed to favor me initially, because we fosterlings had been given that day to use for our own purposes. My friends went off to follow their usual routines at such times—Dairine to her flirtations, Ula to her pacing on the battlements, Gormlaith to her secret place in the shadows.
“How will you spend today?” Dairine asked me as she pinched her cheeks to make them glow for her sweetheart.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to do,” I replied.
“What, washing and mending and that sort of drudgery? I gave one of the servant girls a bronze ring and she’s been looking after my clothing ever since. You could do the same.”
“I’d rather do this myself,” I told her, and since I didn’t say what “this” was, I spoke no lie.
It took very little to put my friends off the scent, mostly because they were too involved with their own plans to meddle with mine. I now know I should have taken more interest in why Gormlaith and Ula chose such joyless, solitary paths, or why there was always such an air of desperation to all of Dairine’s romances. At the time all I could think of was how convenient it was that their choices left me free to follow my own.
Sidestepping the girls was easy. Leaving Dún Beithe was not. The guard minding the ringfort gate wanted to know where I was going.
“I’m picking berries,” I told him.
“Early in the year for that,” he said.
“I’d still like to look. You never know.”
“I know you won’t be bringing many back without a basket.” He smiled.
I stared at my empty hands. How could I be so stupid? My cheeks burned with shame at my blunder. Fortunately for me, the guard misguessed the reason for my blushes.
“Never mind, milady, you go ahead. Don’t keep the lucky boy waiting.”
I ran so fast that he must have thought I was half-mad with love. I hope he won’t jabber to the other men about this , Ithought. I don’t want them putting their heads together, trying to figure out who my nonexistent sweetheart could be. I was so lost in thought over what had just happened that I forgot some of Kian’s directions for finding the clearing. I had to backtrack almost to the edge of the woodland before I put myself on the right path.
“You took your time,” he said pleasantly when I emerged from the trees. “This will have to be a short lesson.” He handed me one of the two wooden practice swords he’d brought, and we began.
C HAPTER F IVE
Swords and Slingstones
S HORT OR LONG , that first lesson tried my limits. Before I knew it, I’d collapsed in a heap on the grass, panting for breath and sweating heavily. Kian dropped down beside me, looking concerned.
“Are you all right, Lady Maeve?”
I pressed my lips together and inhaled deeply to recover. “You’re not to blame, Lord Kian. I’d do better if I were wearing something besides this cumbersome thing.” I grabbed the skirt of my gown with both fists and shook it. “I spend more than half my effort trying not to trip on it.”
“How did you manage before, with your friend at Cruachan?”
“He gave me some of his old garments.”
“I could do the same. You can change behind the trees when you come here.”
It would have been churlish of me to ask If I do, will you promise not to spy on me? Something about Kian made me wantto believe that he was honorable, no matter what his smaller failings. He sacrificed the chance to win our bout to protect Ea , I thought. That shows his true nature better than a hundred promises.
“You’d have to keep
The first time Kian gave me our signal, it took me several false starts before I reached the clearing. Luck seemed to favor me initially, because we fosterlings had been given that day to use for our own purposes. My friends went off to follow their usual routines at such times—Dairine to her flirtations, Ula to her pacing on the battlements, Gormlaith to her secret place in the shadows.
“How will you spend today?” Dairine asked me as she pinched her cheeks to make them glow for her sweetheart.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to do,” I replied.
“What, washing and mending and that sort of drudgery? I gave one of the servant girls a bronze ring and she’s been looking after my clothing ever since. You could do the same.”
“I’d rather do this myself,” I told her, and since I didn’t say what “this” was, I spoke no lie.
It took very little to put my friends off the scent, mostly because they were too involved with their own plans to meddle with mine. I now know I should have taken more interest in why Gormlaith and Ula chose such joyless, solitary paths, or why there was always such an air of desperation to all of Dairine’s romances. At the time all I could think of was how convenient it was that their choices left me free to follow my own.
Sidestepping the girls was easy. Leaving Dún Beithe was not. The guard minding the ringfort gate wanted to know where I was going.
“I’m picking berries,” I told him.
“Early in the year for that,” he said.
“I’d still like to look. You never know.”
“I know you won’t be bringing many back without a basket.” He smiled.
I stared at my empty hands. How could I be so stupid? My cheeks burned with shame at my blunder. Fortunately for me, the guard misguessed the reason for my blushes.
“Never mind, milady, you go ahead. Don’t keep the lucky boy waiting.”
I ran so fast that he must have thought I was half-mad with love. I hope he won’t jabber to the other men about this , Ithought. I don’t want them putting their heads together, trying to figure out who my nonexistent sweetheart could be. I was so lost in thought over what had just happened that I forgot some of Kian’s directions for finding the clearing. I had to backtrack almost to the edge of the woodland before I put myself on the right path.
“You took your time,” he said pleasantly when I emerged from the trees. “This will have to be a short lesson.” He handed me one of the two wooden practice swords he’d brought, and we began.
C HAPTER F IVE
Swords and Slingstones
S HORT OR LONG , that first lesson tried my limits. Before I knew it, I’d collapsed in a heap on the grass, panting for breath and sweating heavily. Kian dropped down beside me, looking concerned.
“Are you all right, Lady Maeve?”
I pressed my lips together and inhaled deeply to recover. “You’re not to blame, Lord Kian. I’d do better if I were wearing something besides this cumbersome thing.” I grabbed the skirt of my gown with both fists and shook it. “I spend more than half my effort trying not to trip on it.”
“How did you manage before, with your friend at Cruachan?”
“He gave me some of his old garments.”
“I could do the same. You can change behind the trees when you come here.”
It would have been churlish of me to ask If I do, will you promise not to spy on me? Something about Kian made me wantto believe that he was honorable, no matter what his smaller failings. He sacrificed the chance to win our bout to protect Ea , I thought. That shows his true nature better than a hundred promises.
“You’d have to keep
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