Odnośniki
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Around all the grounds was a stone wall decayed over the years to half height,
and its gate doors were missing. The surrounding forest had been cleared away
from the wall for thirty paces on all sides.
Wynn stepped close to Leesil, shivering in the dank afternoon. She was so
small that she could have stood beneath his chin. With her hood up over her
hair, only her oval face showed, making her anxious eyes seem rounder as she
Page 48
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
looked up at him. Magiere stood to his other side, unblinking.
Two men stood inside the courtyard near the keep's front doors. They talked
quietly to each other, while a third led a horse to the side stable and a
water trough.
"Are we still going in?" Wynn asked.
"Magiere... you know the way, " Leesil said.
"No, " she replied. "I don't. "
He raised an eyebrow.
"This is as far as I've ever come, " she said. "I was forbidden to come
here.... No one from the village ever came here by choice. "
"But you spent your whole childhood living nearby, " Wynn asked in surprise.
"You must have "
"I sneaked up here alone a few times, " Magiere said, "but never farther than
the tree line. "
Leesil put his arm around behind Magiere and walked forward slowly. As he and
Magiere passed through the doorless gate, the two men near the keep stopped
talking. Each guard carried a spear, as well as a long-knife sheathed on his
belt, but their clothes were plain and threadbare. They were likely no more
than locals engaged by the zupan.
"Can I help you?" the shorter one asked, and his tone suggested that they
state their business quickly.
"We need to speak with the zupan, " Leesil said.
"Is he expecting you?"
Leesil felt Magiere's hand clench his with a shudder. She let go and stepped
forward, her voice polite but cold.
"We arrived only last night. It's important that I see him. "
The man shook his head. "Leave your petition with me, and I'll see that he
gets it. If you come tomorrow, perhaps he will "
"Oh, stop with your pretense, Cherock, " a deep voice called out. "Father
missed lunch, and he's having an early supper. Today's no more exciting than
the rest, and he won't mind a few visitors. "
Leesil turned, searching for the speaker.
In the keep's open doorway stood a slender man with coal-black hair that hung
to his shoulders in a wild, unruly mass. His dusky complexion almost matched
Wynn's olive tone, unlike the pale villagers and the would-be guards. He wore
russet breeches with high boots and a baggy shirt of sea green with the cuffs
rolled halfway up his arms. In one hand he held a fiddle, and in the other he
lightly gripped a player's bow. The instrument's finish was worn away where
the man's chin would rest. He smiled openly as he gestured them inside with
the bow, and Leesil saw nothing behind the expression but a friendly welcome.
"Come, come, " the young man called. "Cherock is doing his little duty, but
Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
my father doesn't stand on ceremony. Join us. "
Such a relaxed invitation was unexpected, but Leesil and Wynn followed
Magiere to the doorway. The young man looked over all three visitors but gave
Wynn a longer appraisal as his smile broadened.
"I am Jan. Cherock acts as if my father has the schedule of a capital
potentate, but we're not quite so overrun. Before we took to the keep, we
lived in my father's central village or visited among my mother's people...
and I'm dying for any company besides these courtyard hang-abouts. "
As Leesil stepped past Jan to the keep's doorway, he noted a series of three
silver hoops in the young man's left earlobe.
"And when was the last time he held an audience?"
Jan paused a moment. "Late summer, I think. One village needed coin for a new
mule. I don't suppose you need an ass for your labors?" He nodded toward Wynn
with a conspiratorial whisper. "I could give you a bargain on Cherock, if you
like. A little exercise might improve his nature. "
Wynn backed toward Leesil as she eyed the young man and tried not to smile.
"She's not familiar with the local language, " Leesil said.
"Ah, lost in foreign lands, are we?" Jan opened his arms in a grand gesture.
"My mother's people are well traveled.Vidaty vraveti Belaskina?"
Wynn seemed charmed and relieved that the zupan's son had formally asked her
if she spoke Belaskian. However, it made Leesil suspicious about how a
backwoods peasant had become so fluent in the language.
Jan ushered them through the short entryway into the keep's main hall,
chattering at Wynn all the while. The main hall was little more than a large
chamber, and it felt overly hot to Leesil after the chill outside.
Stairs circled up along the wall to the left, and matching ones went down
below to the right. The timbered ceiling was twice a man's height and less
aged than the stone, likely having been expanded well after the structure had
been first built. The original fire pit in the hall's center was filled in
with newer floor stones, and a hearth large enough to crawl into had been
added to the far wall. A fire blazed therein, its smoke drafting up through a
mortared chimney. An older man and woman sat at a table eating flatbread and
roasted mutton.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plblacksoulman.xlx.pl
|
