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behind you, I'm coming too."
"Not even though I go to learn whether you and I "
He interrupted her. "Not even then. I must needs live with myself." He braced
his soul. "I could, however, give up this aim of a fresh beginning if there's
the one way we can find to one another."
Gentleness and a certain wisdom came over her. "Nay," she said quietly, "that
would always lie between us and fester. Let me go tonight in peace. I think I
dare hope the Good One will manifest herself and tell me to give you your
desire."
"Just the same, you'll fare with a guard, best me but anyhow a fellow who can
fight, or stay home." It was as bold a gamble as any he had made, staking his
whole happiness. "Otherwise I must bid you farewell. Mayhap some luckier man
will prove worthy of you."
A part of him felt confident. And he had read her aright. "Well, this a
matter concerning us both " He is heard the reluctance, but the words were
enough.
"Improper!" harrumphed Recor. "Scandalous! I'll not have it!"
Thus he tempered the steel. "Do you impugn Captain Grancy's honor?" she
demanded coldly. "Or mine?"
He hunched in his chair, all at once aged. "Nay, of course not."
Victorious, she laughed, trod over to him, and ran a finger down his cheek.
"There's my old dear. Stop fretting. Everything shall end well. Wait and see.
Now, we have two horses left us. Have Paer saddle them. And, oh, aye, put some
provisions in the bags."
* * *
They clattered over the cobblestones of Wheelbarrow Lane, beneath the
overhangs of half-timbered houses, onto smoothly paved Tholis Way. This end of
the avenue lay near enough to the Longline that
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Ferain had had time to hurry back to his ship and fetch a cutlass. He glimpsed
her masts above a roof. A
feeling akin to homesickness tugged at him.
Trolls and tribulation, he didn't belong on a horse! It knew as much, too. It
skittered, balked, tossed its
ugly head, answered to the reins like a barge in riptides to the helm. Traffic
of pedestrians and wagons made things worse. He hoped desperately that the nag
wouldn't shy and trample somebody, or throw him from his seat. Aedra
effortlessly controlled her own mount. Her glances at him turned less than
adoring.
Somehow they won across King's Newmarket, over the Imperial Canal bridge, past
the armory, and out the Eastport. Seilles had long since spread beyond the old
walls, but not very far in this direction, for the land rose steeply on the
left, cliffs and crags, rocks and ravines, gorse and scrub; and only two miles
ahead began Samyr Wood. Level sunlight soaked its green with amber. Shadows
stretched. The air lay quiet, cooling though still mild, still bearing odors
of spurrey and wild thyme. A few early swallows glided by. Except for a faint
buzz from their insect quarry and the clop of hoofs on stone, silence
deepened.
Aedra edged nigh, reached across, and stroked a soothing hand along the neck
of Ferain's horse.
"Calm, poor Udo, calm," she murmured. "He means you no harm. This is but a
small jaunt. Soon you'll graze on savory herbs." She looked at her companion.
"Don't haunt on the reins like that. You hurt his mouth. He's sensitive."
"Huh!" grunted the sailor.
"It would likewise help if you made better use of your stirrups. You sit him
like a sack of meal. And that unnecessary sword of yours slats his barrel."
"His what?" If only the barrel held rum.
"Oh, no matter. He should feel easier in the forest, when I'm leading. But do
take care. We venture in among beings shy and frail."
"I've heard that some are not," Ferain retorted, largely out of irritation.
"The wolves may be gone, but don't goblins, drows, lupasks, and suchlike prowl
the wildwoods yet?"
Aedra shivered. Her forefinger drew a fivepoint. "No ill-omened croaks, if it
please you." She touched heels to her steed. It trotted faster, in front of
his.
Aye, this outing had gone unlucky, Ferain thought. Sour, at least. She didn't
really want his company.
Even the sight of her legs, in tight hose under the hiked-up skirts, ceased to
give cheer.
At the edge of the forest the highway bent east-southeast toward plowlands,
meadows, and farmsteads.
A path led off it, broad, for hunters and merrymakers. The last rays of sun
were losing themselves amidst oak, elm, beech, and other sorts he had no names
for. Soil muffled hoofbeats. Fragrance lingered.
After a while Aedra turned off onto a trail that wound away into the depths.
Bracken rustled as the riders brushed by. Overarching, boughs and leaves made
almost a ceiling. Yard by yard, the pair rode into a twilight that swiftly
thickened. Ferain wondered how she proposed to find the bloody well, but
caught the question between his teeth. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]