her back and pressed her spread palms to the earth. ' I won ' t risk letting our crown prince know why Jeynsa ' s bolted hell-bent into trouble. '
The liegeman viewed her stifled need as transparent: to reach for heart ' s ease through subtle awareness and link with her distant beloved. The concern was not groundless: her longing desire yearned towards the south. The same, searing stars that Arithon experienced at Sanpashir glimmered here, but not softened by late-summer heat haze. The torpid air would not wear the scent of high grass, or the song of the nightjar that stitched lonely notes through the shrilling of nocturnal insects. Elaira kept her firm hold on restraint. She limited her trace to the deep strata of bed-rock, listening for the delicate, shimmering current that carried the local lane flux.
Looming above her, Rathain ' s grim Companion unleashed his overtried nerves. ' This is no secure place to dally for scrying. We should cross the north ford and push into the Barrens by daybreak to avoid the risk of a sighting by trackers. '
The enchantress persisted despite sound advice, stubborn beyond her slight build. She did not look the part of the initiate Koriathain. Clad in cross-laced leathers, her braided bronze hair tied with deer-hide, she could have passed for a forest-bred scout, searching for game sign; except her response second-guessed a man ' s mind, before he set words to his thinking.
' I won ' t need a fire, ' Elaira demurred. "This near the fourth lane, just a rock-pool at the verge, where shoaling rocks don ' t riffle the current. '
Which choice seemed the worse, to a forest clansman whose instincts were pressured. In this border-line country, where the Arwent ' s deep channel could float an east-bound, keeled barge, more trespassing merchants each year dared to route their perishable freight through the lake-side town of Daenfal. Free wilds or not, no clansman crossed them without an armed company at his back. Never mind that traders caught flouting crown charter must be waylaid, or that the fools born outside of blood heritage did not perceive how their venal invasion disrupted Athera ' s grand mysteries. The compact that served the aware heart of the land could not tolerate any compromise that degraded the harmonic flow of the fourth lane.
All the worse, that Jeynsa had tried this passage alone, when impending war drove invasive town interests to ever-more-vicious reprisal. Sidir shifted his sweating grip on his blade, not liking the fact his back was exposed as quarry for league-hunting bowmen.
Scalded at last by his smoking unease, Elaira broke off and stood. ' Sidir, believe me, your fuming is groundless. The flux lines are pulsing in natural harmony. If any townsmen are hanging about, they will be peacefully dead! ' Against his stiff quiet, she finished off, clipped, ' Anyone living who isn ' t mage-shielded would stamp an emotional signature. '
Sidir raised a dark eyebrow, the silvered hair at his temples distinct even under faint starlight. ' I should rely on your vision? '
Elaira sighed. ' My dear man, are we dancing in blindfolds through hoops? I ' ve stood tours of lane watch for my meddling order since I was a starving waif culled from an alley. Seen mirrored in earthforce, your distrust of my character may as well be a deafening shout. '
Not caught aback, Sidir chose his words to avoid a pitched fight. ' I don ' t like the fact I can ' t fathom your motives. ' Grey eyes that discerned with birth talent for truth never flinched from unkind reservations. ' If you ' re wanting that pool, I ' d as soon have this done with. '
Nonetheless, his guidance was considerate as he threaded the rough course through the overgrowth to the river-bank. Southside of Halwythwood, where Daon Ramon Barrens crumpled against the plateau of Araethura, the buttressed seam opened into a gorge. Beneath, the boisterous sluice of the Arwent thundered over its bed of split boulders. Poured ink since the set
The liegeman viewed her stifled need as transparent: to reach for heart ' s ease through subtle awareness and link with her distant beloved. The concern was not groundless: her longing desire yearned towards the south. The same, searing stars that Arithon experienced at Sanpashir glimmered here, but not softened by late-summer heat haze. The torpid air would not wear the scent of high grass, or the song of the nightjar that stitched lonely notes through the shrilling of nocturnal insects. Elaira kept her firm hold on restraint. She limited her trace to the deep strata of bed-rock, listening for the delicate, shimmering current that carried the local lane flux.
Looming above her, Rathain ' s grim Companion unleashed his overtried nerves. ' This is no secure place to dally for scrying. We should cross the north ford and push into the Barrens by daybreak to avoid the risk of a sighting by trackers. '
The enchantress persisted despite sound advice, stubborn beyond her slight build. She did not look the part of the initiate Koriathain. Clad in cross-laced leathers, her braided bronze hair tied with deer-hide, she could have passed for a forest-bred scout, searching for game sign; except her response second-guessed a man ' s mind, before he set words to his thinking.
' I won ' t need a fire, ' Elaira demurred. "This near the fourth lane, just a rock-pool at the verge, where shoaling rocks don ' t riffle the current. '
Which choice seemed the worse, to a forest clansman whose instincts were pressured. In this border-line country, where the Arwent ' s deep channel could float an east-bound, keeled barge, more trespassing merchants each year dared to route their perishable freight through the lake-side town of Daenfal. Free wilds or not, no clansman crossed them without an armed company at his back. Never mind that traders caught flouting crown charter must be waylaid, or that the fools born outside of blood heritage did not perceive how their venal invasion disrupted Athera ' s grand mysteries. The compact that served the aware heart of the land could not tolerate any compromise that degraded the harmonic flow of the fourth lane.
All the worse, that Jeynsa had tried this passage alone, when impending war drove invasive town interests to ever-more-vicious reprisal. Sidir shifted his sweating grip on his blade, not liking the fact his back was exposed as quarry for league-hunting bowmen.
Scalded at last by his smoking unease, Elaira broke off and stood. ' Sidir, believe me, your fuming is groundless. The flux lines are pulsing in natural harmony. If any townsmen are hanging about, they will be peacefully dead! ' Against his stiff quiet, she finished off, clipped, ' Anyone living who isn ' t mage-shielded would stamp an emotional signature. '
Sidir raised a dark eyebrow, the silvered hair at his temples distinct even under faint starlight. ' I should rely on your vision? '
Elaira sighed. ' My dear man, are we dancing in blindfolds through hoops? I ' ve stood tours of lane watch for my meddling order since I was a starving waif culled from an alley. Seen mirrored in earthforce, your distrust of my character may as well be a deafening shout. '
Not caught aback, Sidir chose his words to avoid a pitched fight. ' I don ' t like the fact I can ' t fathom your motives. ' Grey eyes that discerned with birth talent for truth never flinched from unkind reservations. ' If you ' re wanting that pool, I ' d as soon have this done with. '
Nonetheless, his guidance was considerate as he threaded the rough course through the overgrowth to the river-bank. Southside of Halwythwood, where Daon Ramon Barrens crumpled against the plateau of Araethura, the buttressed seam opened into a gorge. Beneath, the boisterous sluice of the Arwent thundered over its bed of split boulders. Poured ink since the set
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