Read Online Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist - Free Book Online

seated over there.” He pointed to the pair of chairs at the end of the table on Talon’s right. “No one will sit at the other end.’’
    â€œSix on this side, Master Cook,” Talon repeated.
    â€œYou will be responsible to keep the goblets filled.Should a guest have to ask for more ale or wine, Kendrick’s honor will be besmirched and I will view that as a personal affront. I will most likely ask Robert de Lyis to have Pasko beat you.’’
    â€œYes, Master Cook.’’
    â€œMake certain you pour ale into those goblets with ale, and wine only into those with wine in them. I have heard some barbarous people down in Kesh actually mix them, but I find that difficult to believe. In any event, mix them and I will ask Robert de Lyis to have Pasko beat you.’’
    â€œYes, Master Cook.’’
    With a playful slap to the back of Talon’s head, he said, “I may ask Robert de Lyis to have Pasko beat you just because you are a boy, and boys are annoying. Stay here.’’
    With that, the Master Cook departed, leaving Talon alone in the room.
    Talon let his eyes wander. There were tapestries above the sideboard behind him, and in the right corner of the room as he faced the table, a small hearth with another at the far left corner opposite him. Between the two they would provide ample heat for the long dining hall on any but the coldest nights.
    Against the far wall another side table waited, and in a moment, Lars entered carrying a huge platter with dressed-out mutton heaped upon it. In what appeared to be controlled frenzy, Meggie and Lela, with several others he had seen in the kitchen whose names were unknown to him, hurried into the room, bearing platters of steaming vegetables, hot breads, pots of condiments and honey, tubs of freshly churned butter, plates with roasted duck, rabbit, and chicken. They would move to the sideboards and place each item, hurry past one another without disturbing anything upon the tables or interfering with what was being carried, and return a moment later with anotherplatter. There were many items of food unlike anything Talon had seen before. Some fruits of strange color and texture were placed alongside familiar apples, pears, and plums.
    Then the ale and wine were fetched in, and Lars remained standing opposite Talon on the other side of the table as Meggie went to the left end of the far table and Lela went to the right end of the sideboard behind Talon.
    There seemed to be but the merest pause, a moment in which to catch one’s breath, to compose oneself, then the door on the right across from Talon opened and a parade of well-dressed men and women entered.
    They filed in, each taking a place at the table, based upon some system of rank, Talon assumed, for a man and woman stood behind the chairs at the end of the table and those who filed in after each took a place, in order. Talon saw this was much like the seating in the men’s long house in his village. The senior chieftain would sit upon the high seat, the one most prominent in the building, with the second most senior chieftain on his right, the third on his left, thus and so forth until every man in the village was in his place. A change in order occurred only when a man above died, so any man in the village might expect to sit in the same place for years.
    Last through the door was Kendrick, dressed much as he had been the first time Talon had seen him. His hair and beard looked freshly washed and combed, but his tunic was much the same color, and the trousers and boots were still serviceable. He stepped to the chair before the man at the head of the table and pulled it out.
    Talon saw Lars moving to the chair closest to the head of the table and put his hands upon it to pull it out. Talon hesitated only a moment, then moved to his right to the chair closest to the head and mimicked Kendrick’s andLars’s motions: pulled the chair out with a slight turn,