you. I’ve got over that callow jealousy
now, and I got good at turning on a show of fraternal affection,
but don’t ask me to go out of my way to help you, because I won’t.’
He smiled lightly, carelessly, and left her. There was no real hate
for her in him, just a complete lack of interest, and she wondered
if that was not worse.
She leant her
head against Ygraine’s neck and choked down the ache in her
throat.
It wasn’t
really all her fault he was like this, was it?
~~~~~~~
Harin Markle
came as he had promised. Keris was alone, working in the shop when
he came to the door, traipsing in a trail of dirt from unwiped
boots.
She tried to
be detached in her assessment. He was not bad-looking, she
supposed, even though there was a rather large spot developing
right on the end of his nose at the moment. Still, she could hardly
hold that against him. No, it was not his looks she didn’t like, it
was his attitude. He was so cock-sure when he faced someone he
considered his inferior, yet so obsequious when in the company of
those he considered his superiors. She came in the first category,
she knew, while Thirl was one of the latter. With Thirl he was all
smiles and flattery, couching his ideas as mere suggestions; with
her he spoke with a heavy pompousness and treated her as though she
were a recalcitrant horse to be persuaded out of wrongful
behaviour.
‘Keris,’ he
said, ‘Thirl tells me he’s told you of our plans for the tavern.
What do you think of that, eh? Loads of money to be made because
we’re bound to catch the trade coming up from Hopen Grat. Great
idea, but that’s your brother all round. Always has bright
ideas…’
She tried to
freeze him with a look that would have stopped a rain shower, but
he didn’t seem to notice. She said, ‘I understand that the two of
you have also had a bright idea about me.’
He was not in
the least embarrassed. ‘Why, yes—Thirl’s idea, actually, but it
seemed a good one. I mean, you and I could hook up together and
everybody benefits—’
‘Perhaps you’d
be good enough to explain just what benefit I’d get from it?’
He looked
taken aback. ‘Why, you’d be married, of course! Otherwise you’ll
end up like Old Woman Raddles, with everyone saying you’re a witch,
too ugly ever to have found a man. Come on, now, Keris, it won’t be
so bad. You’d be a tavern keeper’s wife, lording it over the other
women in the village. As for the other side of being married, well,
I know you’re a virgin, but we can get that out of the way quickly
enough, and once we’ve had a couple of kids, you won’t have to
worry about that sort of thing anymore, I swear.’
She gaped at
him, not knowing whether to laugh or be angry. ‘Harin Markle,’ she
said a last, ‘get this into your insensitive skull: if I were to
consider marrying anyone at all, you would be right at the bottom
of my list of potential candidates. Is that understood?’
Unfortunately
it did not seem to be understood at all. He laughed, made several
condescending remarks about women having coy natures, and of course
she was pretending modesty because that was the maidenly thing to
do. He would, he said, be back again, naturally.
She gritted
her teeth and refrained, with difficulty, from throwing something
at his departing back when he finally left her.
Some time
later, when she had calmed herself, she began to unstrap the packs
belonging to Piers that Blue Ketter had left in the shop. The first
things to fall out were the throwing knives, all five of them,
still in their scabbards. She pulled one free and weighed it in her
hand, feeling its balance. It was true that she could throw them
more skilfully than Thirl, although even she had not quite
perfected the knack of judging distance accurately enough to ensure
that it was always the point of the blade, rather than some other
part of the knife, that ended up hitting the target. Too often the
weapon would spin out wrongly and clatter
now, and I got good at turning on a show of fraternal affection,
but don’t ask me to go out of my way to help you, because I won’t.’
He smiled lightly, carelessly, and left her. There was no real hate
for her in him, just a complete lack of interest, and she wondered
if that was not worse.
She leant her
head against Ygraine’s neck and choked down the ache in her
throat.
It wasn’t
really all her fault he was like this, was it?
~~~~~~~
Harin Markle
came as he had promised. Keris was alone, working in the shop when
he came to the door, traipsing in a trail of dirt from unwiped
boots.
She tried to
be detached in her assessment. He was not bad-looking, she
supposed, even though there was a rather large spot developing
right on the end of his nose at the moment. Still, she could hardly
hold that against him. No, it was not his looks she didn’t like, it
was his attitude. He was so cock-sure when he faced someone he
considered his inferior, yet so obsequious when in the company of
those he considered his superiors. She came in the first category,
she knew, while Thirl was one of the latter. With Thirl he was all
smiles and flattery, couching his ideas as mere suggestions; with
her he spoke with a heavy pompousness and treated her as though she
were a recalcitrant horse to be persuaded out of wrongful
behaviour.
‘Keris,’ he
said, ‘Thirl tells me he’s told you of our plans for the tavern.
What do you think of that, eh? Loads of money to be made because
we’re bound to catch the trade coming up from Hopen Grat. Great
idea, but that’s your brother all round. Always has bright
ideas…’
She tried to
freeze him with a look that would have stopped a rain shower, but
he didn’t seem to notice. She said, ‘I understand that the two of
you have also had a bright idea about me.’
He was not in
the least embarrassed. ‘Why, yes—Thirl’s idea, actually, but it
seemed a good one. I mean, you and I could hook up together and
everybody benefits—’
‘Perhaps you’d
be good enough to explain just what benefit I’d get from it?’
He looked
taken aback. ‘Why, you’d be married, of course! Otherwise you’ll
end up like Old Woman Raddles, with everyone saying you’re a witch,
too ugly ever to have found a man. Come on, now, Keris, it won’t be
so bad. You’d be a tavern keeper’s wife, lording it over the other
women in the village. As for the other side of being married, well,
I know you’re a virgin, but we can get that out of the way quickly
enough, and once we’ve had a couple of kids, you won’t have to
worry about that sort of thing anymore, I swear.’
She gaped at
him, not knowing whether to laugh or be angry. ‘Harin Markle,’ she
said a last, ‘get this into your insensitive skull: if I were to
consider marrying anyone at all, you would be right at the bottom
of my list of potential candidates. Is that understood?’
Unfortunately
it did not seem to be understood at all. He laughed, made several
condescending remarks about women having coy natures, and of course
she was pretending modesty because that was the maidenly thing to
do. He would, he said, be back again, naturally.
She gritted
her teeth and refrained, with difficulty, from throwing something
at his departing back when he finally left her.
Some time
later, when she had calmed herself, she began to unstrap the packs
belonging to Piers that Blue Ketter had left in the shop. The first
things to fall out were the throwing knives, all five of them,
still in their scabbards. She pulled one free and weighed it in her
hand, feeling its balance. It was true that she could throw them
more skilfully than Thirl, although even she had not quite
perfected the knack of judging distance accurately enough to ensure
that it was always the point of the blade, rather than some other
part of the knife, that ended up hitting the target. Too often the
weapon would spin out wrongly and clatter
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