Read Online Lady Knight by L J Baker - Free Book Online Page B

house courtyard overflowed with the naer’s retinue readying to move.
The senior priestess waited beside Aveline’s travelling carriage. She was
flanked by most of her underlings, except Aveline’s erstwhile bed mate. Off to
the side, Alan and John, Riannon’s groom, waited with her horses. Her destrier,
bred and trained for war, looked restive. Riannon knew how the stallion felt.
    “Did Lady Barrowmere claim your other glove, too?” Aveline glanced pointedly at
Riannon’s bare hands.
    “What need have you for me?” Riannon said. “You’ve men at arms in plenty.
Especially combined with Lady Eleanor’s escort.”
    “I’ve a special task that only you can perform. Not some hired ruffian with a
spear.”
    “What is this task?”
    “I’m but the conduit, not the origin, of our Wise Mother’s will,” Aveline said.
“As you’re her sworn paladin. We all serve in our different ways.”
    “I’d feel easier if my way was not blind.”
    “All will be revealed in good time.”
    Aveline walked away. The seething throng of servants, men, and horses opened a
path for her.
    “Why do I feel as though the time is of your choosing and not the Goddess’s?”
Riannon said.
    Aveline halted a few yards away. “Did you know that one of the wedding guests is
an ambassador of his Imperial Highness, the Lion Emperor?”
    The men who heard her turned to stare. One muttered an oath and spat on the
ground. Riannon knew they would not be alone in their unhappy surprise at
finding themselves in the presence of infidels. Her own thoughts flew back to
Vahl, the last bloody siege before the truce. Her hand dropped to the hilt of
her sword.
    Aveline smiled. “What merrymaking we shall have, shan’t we?”
    Riannon frowned as she watched Aveline stroll to where she received the
obeisances and farewells from the local priestesses. Aveline had not just
learned that piece of news. She had probably known it before she met Riannon in
that remote grove house. Aveline knew Riannon’s wounds incurred at Vahl had been
inflicted by a magical blade wielded by an infidel champion. Putting that in
close proximity to Aveline’s mention of a special quest resulted in no pleasant
conclusion.
    Riannon stalked away to her waiting squire.
    Lady Barrowmere’s retinue already threw up a cloud of red-brown dust on the road
ahead. Riannon urged her horse past the trail of carts, sumpter horses, unwieldy
carriages, walking servants, and men at arms. The lady, today wearing blue, was
a sapphire set on the silver of her mare. Riannon guided her horse in beside the
grey palfrey.
    Lady Eleanor smiled at her. “Good morning.”
    “Lady.” Riannon nodded a bow.
    “Good morning, Lady Riannon,” Cicely said.
    Riannon suppressed her surprise. She had failed to notice Eleanor’s niece riding
on the other side of her.
    “You look out of temper.” Eleanor stretched her arm out. “I hope this has no
part in its cause.”
    Surprised at being so easily read, Riannon offered bland thanks as she accepted
her glove back.
    “Perhaps I was overly hasty in returning it,” Eleanor said. “If the portcullis
has been lowered and the drawbridge raised against me.”
    Riannon couldn’t help a fleeting grin. “No, lady, I’m mindful of my surrender.
My thoughts were elsewhere.”
    “Hmm. I wonder if I can count that as one? Mayhap I should, as my challenge
seems even more formidable now with your sombre mood. Although, a more
scrupulous soul wouldn’t lower herself to admitting a grin to be quite the same
accomplishment as a true smile.”
    Riannon knew full well she was being teased. She was not deceived by the
seriously thoughtful expression on Eleanor’s lovely face.
    “On the other hand,” Eleanor said, “a more amenable person would hardly make me
work so hard. For certès, your brother Guy would have me victorious ere we reach
the top of yonder rise. And give me a laugh or two into the bargain.”
    “You know him well?” Riannon said.
    Guy was her