Read Online The Towers of the Sunset by L. E. Modesitt Jr. - Free Book Online Page B

mean she does not love her son. Or that she is blind to what he is." The Tyrant frowns. "There was a rumor that Dylyss also had the talent."
    "That would be horrifying, if true."
    "Why? She's bound not to use it. Besides, that's not the issue, although it would explain-"
    "Why did she let him ski into the winter storms?"
    "Frewya, the boy was allowed to train with the guards, at least until I inquired. He could out-ski most of them. Our sources indicate that when he was refused permission to work out with them, he copied their workouts on his own. He was taught blade-work, or so we were told, in order to protect his honor and to deflect any criticism by the easterners. You saw what he did with a blade here. Yet after that, the Marshall had him taught more by the guard arms-master. I'm sure that the rationale was that after the episode here, he needed even greater skill. How convenient. He was also taught the traditional skills of numbers and rhetoric, and the old Temple tongue." She smiles a smile that is colder than most women's frowns. "And he does have some mastery of the winds, or so Megaera has assured me."
    "But the guard source insisted he was not up to guard standards with blades. That is what you told me."
    The older woman shrugs. "That may be true. How many men, even easterners, are up to guard standards?" Her face turns colder. "But I suspect he is better than most Westwind guards, given his parenting. Dylyss tends to omit the important details."
    "You're saying that she had him taught enough to survive on his own?"
    "Only if he wishes-she could not teach desire. He is bound to be naive about the ways of the world. Experience cannot be taught. She saw more than she was supposed to here, but even then, she refused to make it easy for him. She makes it easy for no one." Ryessa pauses. "Still, our turn will come."
    "Insist that she find him!"
    "How?" asked the Tyrant dryly. "How would we force the Marshall? With our might of arms?"
    "What if he died on the mountain? Or what if he makes it across the Westhorns? Or even the Easthorns?"
    "I don't think he died. After all, Megaera is still alive. I'm tempted to take her to Bleyans and strike the bracelets. She has to find him, you know, like the Furies. As for the easterners-if he makes it that far, and if Megaera finds him, in time they will regret it."
    "You aren't planning to take on the magicians?"
    "Why should I? Let us see what he can do, especially once Megaera is after him." "Would the guards ..."
    The woman in the high chair shrugs. "Ask them, or find him, if you can. If not-"
    "That is a dangerous game."
    "Do we have any choice? Each year the wizards drive their road that much nearer us." The woman with the cold green fire in her eyes that complements the white-blond flame of her hair watches as her advisor departs.
    In another room, a red-haired woman stares into the mirror that brings forth no reflection, only swirling gray.
    Just one image, one clear moment-that is all she has glimpsed, the image of a man buried in snow-before the pain had become too great to hold the link.
    Each time she reaches out, the bracelets burn, but she only bites her lips when they glow red-hot and when she can no longer bear the heat. Now her eyes flicker toward the iron-bound door, and they burn with a heat deeper than the iron on her wrists.
     
     
    XVI
     
    As HE SEES the clearing on the hillside, Creslin pushes slightly harder, despite the drudgery of forcing the skis through snow that has become steadily heavier and wetter as he has moved eastward and gradually lower. He has followed the ridge lines as much as possible.
    The warm weather of the past two days has made sleeping damp and uncomfortable and the traveling slow. Outside of the several deer, a handful of snow hares, a few scattered birds, he has seen no living creatures. No other travelers, not even a trail. Through the trees, the eastern barrier peaks appear less than another range of hills away.
    Now, nearly an