| He'd hurt a hapless, innocent man so brutally just now, had shattered the bones of his faceI must look truly terrible, he thought, for even Erlein to be so gentle with me nowThey were going to war in SenzioThis is what I wanted, he repeated to himself
"Erlein, I'm sorry," he said, risking it, trying to struggle upwards from this sorrow
He braced for a stinging reply, he almost wanted one, but Erlein said nothing at all at firstAnd when he spoke it was mildly"I think it is time," was what he said"Shall we go down and play? Would that help?"
Would that help? Since when did his people, Erlein, even, need to minister to him so much?
They went back down the stairsDevin was waiting for them on the makeshift stage at the back of the TriallaAlessan took up his Tregean pipesHis right hand was hurting and swollen, but it was not going to keep him from making musicHe needed music now, very badlyHe closed his eyes and began to playThey fell silent for him in the densely crowded roomErlein waited, his hands motionless on the harp, and new cartier watches Devin did, leaving him a space in which to reach upwards alone, yearning towards that high note where confusion and pain and love and death and longing could all be left behind him for a very little while
Chapter 18
NORMALLY WHEN SHE WENT UP ON THE RAMPARTS OF HER castle at sunset it was to look south, watching the play of light and the changing colors of the sky above the mountainsOf late though, as springtime turned towards the summer they had all been waiting for, Alienor found herself climbing to the northern ramparts instead, to pace the guard's walk behind the crenellations or lean upon the cool rough stone, gazing into the distance, wrapped in her shawl against the chill that still came when the sun went down
As if she could actually see as far as Senzio
The shawl was a new one, brought by the messengers from Quileia that Baerd had told them would comeThe ones who carried the messages that could, if all went right, turn the whole world upside downNot just the Palm: Barbadior too, where the Emperor was said to be dying, small chanel purse and Ygrath, and Quileia itself where, precisely because of what he was doing for them, Marius might not survive
The Quileian messengers had stopped on their way to Fort Ortiz, as was appropriate, to pay their respects to the Lady of Castle Borso and to bring her a gift from the new King of Quileia: an indigo-colored shawl, a color almost impossible to find here in the Palm, and one which was, she knew, a mark of nobility in Quileia, It was evident that Alessan had told this Marius a fair bit about her involvement with him over the yearsMarius of Quileia, it seemed, was one of them; in fact, as Baerd had explained it the afternoon after Alessan had ridden into the Braccio Pass and then away west, Marius was the key to everything
Two days after the Quileians passed through, Alienor began a habit of springtime rides that took her, casually, far enough afield to necessitate one or two overnight stays at neighboring castlesAt which time she relayed a quite specific message to half a dozen equally specific peopleBefore Midsummer
Not gucci bag replica long afterwards, a silk-merchant and then a singer she rather liked came down to Castle Borso with word of tremendous troop movements among the BarbadiansThe roads were absolutely clogged with mercenaries marching north, they saidShe had raised her eyebrows in quizzical mystification, but had allowed herself more wine than was customary each of those two nights, and had rewarded both men later, after her own fashion
Up on the ramparts at sunset now, she heard a footstep on the stair behind herShe had been waiting for it
Without turning, she said, "You are almost too lateThe sun is nearly gone Which was true; the color of the sky and the thin, underlit clouds in the west had darkened from pink through crimson and purple most of the way down to the indigo she wore about her shoulders
Elena stepped out on the parapet
"I'm sorry," she said, inappropriatelyShe was always apologizing, still uneasy in the castleShe moved to the guard's walk beside Alienor and looked out over the gathering darkness of the late-spring fieldsHer long yellow chanel pearls hair fanned over her shoulders, the ends lifting in the breeze
Ostensibly she was here to serve as a new lady-in-waiting to AlienorShe had brought her two young children and her few belongings into Borso two mornings after the Ember Days had endedIt was considered a good idea that she be established here well before the time that might matterIt appeared, incredibly enough, that there could actually come a time when her being here might matter
Tomaz, the gaunt, aged Khardhu warrior had said that it would be necessary for one of them to stay hereTomaz, who was very clearly not from Khardhun, and just as clearly unwilling to say who he really wasAlienor didn't care about thatWhat mattered was that Baerd and Alessan trusted him, and in this matter Baerd was deferring to the dark, hollow-cheeked man absolutely,
"One of whom, exactly?" Alienor had askedThe four of them had been alone: herself, Baerd and Tomaz, and the red-headed young girl who didn't like her, Catriana
Baerd hesitated a long time"One of the Night Walkers," he said miu miu nappa final |
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