Read Online Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Elizabeth Moon
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elves, butthe effect of the elves. Pain lessened. Fear calmed. And it was winter, he reminded himself: not the time for new growth.
So they had not deserted completely. But why had they left the place where he’d found them? He tried to use his taig-sense to reach them, to find his grandmother, but met only fog … or so it felt.
He rolled to his other side. So now he knew where the elves were … why had he wakened? He didn’t feel sleepy now, nor did he feel menace near. He pushed the covers aside, fumbled his feet into fleece-lined slippers, and went to the window above the courtyard. He pushed the curtains aside and let the night air, frigid as it was, roll in. The clouds had blown away south; starlight glittered on the snowy roofs of the lower buildings—the stable, the smithy, the storehouses. Kieri leaned out into the cold air. He could just see sentries moving silently where they should go and the loom of the King’s Grove trees, streaked with snow.
So still a night … He breathed in deeply and then looked up at the stars. Nowhere near morning, just after the turn of night. A touch of warm air on his face startled him; he jerked back. Nothing. But not nothing … her. “Tamar?” he whispered. Another touch of warmth. Joy flooded him—her joy, he realized—and then a buffet to his shoulder that knocked him into the window frame hard enough to dislodge a chunk of snow frozen there. And she was gone.
The snow fell onto the swept stones below—a small sound, but one of the sentries turned and came across the courtyard, peering up at the wall, alert.
Kieri leaned out. “My fault—I was stargazing.”
“Sir king! Is all well?”
“Very well,” Kieri said. He could not see the expression on the man’s face, but he could imagine what he thought: the king, up in the middle of a cold winter’s night, leaning out the window. “I woke, and it was so quiet, I wondered if it snowed.”
“Shall I tell someone—”
“No. I’ll go back to bed.” Kieri stepped back and pulled the curtains closed. He slid into the covers that still held the warmth of his body and lay for a time thinking of Tamar. That she approved of Arian did not surprise him, but the buffet? What had that meant? She used to do that when she thought he’d been foolish … What had he done this time? Laughter ran through his mind, then faded.She was gone. She had given him a buffet when he left, if he lingered in farewell … he understood, and with that he fell asleep.
Next morning he was in the salle when a servant brought word that a courier had come from Aliam Halveric. “Bring him here,” Kieri said.
The courier was Cal’s son Aliam, about the age Kieri had been when he himself had come to Halveric Steading. “Sir king, Lord Halveric will be here in another two days, if the weather holds. He asks that you send word where you want his troops to camp or if you want them to march straight on to join up with Captain Talgan in Riverwash.”
“Captain Talgan was lost,” Kieri said. The lad paled. “Riverwash … burned.”
“The—the whole
town
, sir king?”
“Yes. The strange fire weapon the Pargunese had threatened. I wrote Aliam about it.”
“How—did you stop it?”
“I did not. What they called scathefire is instead dragonspawn … and a dragon stopped it.”
“A dragon? I thought there were no dragons anymore.”
“So did I,” Kieri said. “But there are, and I have spoken with one. Tell me, young Aliam, have you breakfasted?”
“No, sir king. Granfer—Lord Halveric—said stop for nothing on the way. Don’t you eat or sleep, he said, until you’ve seen the king.”
“Well, you’ve seen the king, and if you can wait while I finish exercise, you can eat breakfast with the king as well.”
Aliam looked around the salle and grinned. “Can I play?”
“Lad, you’ve ridden all night, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but that’s—Granfer and Father both said that’s
So they had not deserted completely. But why had they left the place where he’d found them? He tried to use his taig-sense to reach them, to find his grandmother, but met only fog … or so it felt.
He rolled to his other side. So now he knew where the elves were … why had he wakened? He didn’t feel sleepy now, nor did he feel menace near. He pushed the covers aside, fumbled his feet into fleece-lined slippers, and went to the window above the courtyard. He pushed the curtains aside and let the night air, frigid as it was, roll in. The clouds had blown away south; starlight glittered on the snowy roofs of the lower buildings—the stable, the smithy, the storehouses. Kieri leaned out into the cold air. He could just see sentries moving silently where they should go and the loom of the King’s Grove trees, streaked with snow.
So still a night … He breathed in deeply and then looked up at the stars. Nowhere near morning, just after the turn of night. A touch of warm air on his face startled him; he jerked back. Nothing. But not nothing … her. “Tamar?” he whispered. Another touch of warmth. Joy flooded him—her joy, he realized—and then a buffet to his shoulder that knocked him into the window frame hard enough to dislodge a chunk of snow frozen there. And she was gone.
The snow fell onto the swept stones below—a small sound, but one of the sentries turned and came across the courtyard, peering up at the wall, alert.
Kieri leaned out. “My fault—I was stargazing.”
“Sir king! Is all well?”
“Very well,” Kieri said. He could not see the expression on the man’s face, but he could imagine what he thought: the king, up in the middle of a cold winter’s night, leaning out the window. “I woke, and it was so quiet, I wondered if it snowed.”
“Shall I tell someone—”
“No. I’ll go back to bed.” Kieri stepped back and pulled the curtains closed. He slid into the covers that still held the warmth of his body and lay for a time thinking of Tamar. That she approved of Arian did not surprise him, but the buffet? What had that meant? She used to do that when she thought he’d been foolish … What had he done this time? Laughter ran through his mind, then faded.She was gone. She had given him a buffet when he left, if he lingered in farewell … he understood, and with that he fell asleep.
Next morning he was in the salle when a servant brought word that a courier had come from Aliam Halveric. “Bring him here,” Kieri said.
The courier was Cal’s son Aliam, about the age Kieri had been when he himself had come to Halveric Steading. “Sir king, Lord Halveric will be here in another two days, if the weather holds. He asks that you send word where you want his troops to camp or if you want them to march straight on to join up with Captain Talgan in Riverwash.”
“Captain Talgan was lost,” Kieri said. The lad paled. “Riverwash … burned.”
“The—the whole
town
, sir king?”
“Yes. The strange fire weapon the Pargunese had threatened. I wrote Aliam about it.”
“How—did you stop it?”
“I did not. What they called scathefire is instead dragonspawn … and a dragon stopped it.”
“A dragon? I thought there were no dragons anymore.”
“So did I,” Kieri said. “But there are, and I have spoken with one. Tell me, young Aliam, have you breakfasted?”
“No, sir king. Granfer—Lord Halveric—said stop for nothing on the way. Don’t you eat or sleep, he said, until you’ve seen the king.”
“Well, you’ve seen the king, and if you can wait while I finish exercise, you can eat breakfast with the king as well.”
Aliam looked around the salle and grinned. “Can I play?”
“Lad, you’ve ridden all night, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but that’s—Granfer and Father both said that’s
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