Read Online The Complete Morgaine by C. J. Cherryh - Free Book Online Page B

hedge-lords. But he had seen
ilinin
at Ra-morij forced to such humiliation, refused Claiming, forgotten, ignored, no one reckoning what the man might have been before he became
ilin
and nameless. It was not worth protest now: the Leth was supremely dangerous.
    â€œI am intrigued to have the likes of you among us,” said Leth Kasedre. “Are you truly that Morgaine of Irien?”
    â€œI never claimed to be,” said Morgaine.
    The Leth blinked, leaned back a little, licked the corners of his mouth in perplexity. “But you are, truly,” he said. “There was never the like of you in this world.”
    Morgaine’s lips suddenly acquired a smile as feral as Kasedre’s could be. “I am Morgaine,” she said. “You are right.”
    Kasedre let his breath go in a long sigh. He performed another obeisance that had to be answered, rare honor for a guest in hall. “How are you among us? Do you come back—to ride to other wars?”
    He sounded eager, even delighted at the prospect.
    â€œI am seeing what there is to be seen,” said Morgaine. “I am interested in Leth. You seem an interesting beginning to my travels. And,” a modest lowering of eyes, “you have been most charitable in the matter of my
ilin
—if it were not for the twins.”
    Kasedre licked his lips and looked suddenly nervous. “Twins? Ah, wicked, wicked, those children. They will be disciplined.”
    â€œIndeed they should be,” said Morgaine.
    â€œWill you share dinner with us this evening?”
    Morgaine’s precise and delighted smile did not vary. “Most gladly, most honored, Leth Kasedre. My
ilin
and I will attend.”
    â€œAh, but ill as he is—”
    â€œMy
ilin
will attend,” she said. Her tone was delicate ice, still smiling. Kasedre flinched from that and smiled also, chanced in the same moment to look toward Vanye, who glared back, sullen and well sure of the murder resident in Kasedre’s heart: hate not directed at Morgaine—he was in awe of her—but of the sight of a man who was not his to order.
    Of a sudden, wildly, he feared Morgaine’s own capabilities. She slipped so easily into mad Kasedre’s vein, well able to play the games he played and tread the maze of his insanities. Vanye reckoned again his worth to his
liyo,
and wondered whether she would yield him up to Kasedre if need be to escape this mad hall, a bit of human coin strewn along her way and forgotten.
    But so far she defended her rights with authoritative persistence, whether for his sake or in her own simple arrogance.
    â€œHave you been dead?” asked Kasedre.
    â€œHardly,” she said. “I took a shortcut. I was only here a month ago. Edjnel was ruling then.”
    Kasedre’s mad eyes glittered and blinked when she casually named a lord his ancestor, dead a hundred years. He looked angry, as if he suspected some humor at his expense.
    â€œA shortcut,” she said, unruffled, “across the years you folk have lived, from yesterday to now, straightwise. The world went wide, around the bending of the path. I went through. I am here now, all the same. You look a great deal like Edjnel.”
    Kasedre’s face underwent a rapid series of expressions, ending in delight as he was compared to his famous ancestor. He puffed and swelled so far as hisnarrow chest permitted, then seemed again to return to the perplexities of the things she posed.
    â€œHow?” he asked. “How did you do it?”
    â€œBy the fires of Aenor above Pyvvn. It is not hard to use the fires to this purpose—but one must be very brave. It is a fearful journey.”
    It was too much for Kasedre. He drew a series of deep breaths like a man about to faint, and leaned back, resting his hands upon that great sword, staring about at his gape-mouthed
uyin,
half of whom looked puzzled and the other part too muddled to do anything.
    â€œYou will tell us more