Arrow's Fall Read Free Page A

pack-mules.
    “Havens! Am I ever glad to see you two!” Skif exclaimed as they came into earshot. “Cymry swore you were close, but I was half-afraid I’d have to ride a couple of hours, and I hate to make her leave the little one for that long.”
    “You sound like you’ve been waiting for us—Skif, what’s the problem?” Kris asked anxiously. “What are you doing out here?”
    “Nothing for you; plenty for her. Mind you, this is strictly under the ivy bush; we don’t want people to know you’ve been warned, Talia. I slipped out on behalf of a lady in distress.”
    “Who? Elspeth? Selenay? What—”
    “Give me a minute, will you? I’m trying to tell you. Elspeth asked me to intercept you on your way in. It seems the Council is trying to marry her off, and she’s not overly thrilled with the notion. She wants you to know so you’ll have time to muster some good arguments for the Council meeting tomorrow,”
    Skif reined Cymry in beside them, and they picked up the pace. “Alessandar has made a formal offer for her for Ancar. Lots of advantages there. Virtually everybody on the Council is for it except Elcarth and Kyril—and Selenay. They’ve been arguing it back and forth for two months, but it’s been serious for about a week, and it looks as if Selenay is gradually being worn down. That’s why Elspeth sent me out to watch for you; I’ve been slipping out for the past three days, hoping to catch you when you came in and warn you what’s up. With you to back her, Selenay’s got full veto—either to table the betrothal until Elspeth’s finished training, or throw the notion out altogether. Elspeth didn’t want any of the more excitable Councillors to know we were warning you, or they might have put more pressure on Selenay to decide before you got here.”
    Talia sighed. “So nothing’s been decided; good. I can deal with it easily enough. Can you get on ahead of us? Let Elspeth and Selenay both know we’ll be there by dinner-bell? I can’t do anything now, anyway, but tomorrow we can take care of the whole mess at Council session. If Elspeth wants to see me before then—I’m all hers; she’ll probably find me in my rooms.”
    “Your wish is my command,” Skif replied. As all three knew, Skif knew more ways than one in and out of the capital and the Palace grounds. He’d make far better time than they could.
    They held their pace to that of the mules as Skif sent Cymry off at a diagonal to the road, raising a cloud of dust behind him. They continued on as if they hadn’t met him; but Kris traded a look of weary amusement with her. They weren’t even officially “home” yet, and already the intrigues had begun.
    “Anything else bothering you?”
    “To put it bluntly,” she said at last, “Fm nervous about coming back home—as nervy as a cat about to kitten.”
    “Whyfor? And why now? The worst is over. You’re a full Herald—the last of your training’s behind you. What’s to be nervous about?”
    Talia looked around her; at the fields, the distant hills, at anything but Kris. A warm spring breeze, loaded with flower-scent, teased her hair and blew a lock or two into her eyes so that she looked like a worried foal.
    “I’m not sure I ought to discuss it with you,” she said reluctantly.
    “If not me, then who?”
    She looked at him measuringly. “I don’t know. . . .”
    “No,” Kris said, just a little hurt by her reluctance. “You know. You just aren’t sure you can trust me. Even after all we’ve shared together.”
    She winced. “Disconcertingly accurate. I thought bluntness was my besetting sin.”
    Kris cast his eyes up to the heavens in an exaggerated plea for patience, squinting against the bright sunlight. “I am a Herald. You are a Herald. If there’s one thing you should haver learned by now, it’s that you can always trust another Herald.”
    “Even when my suspicions conflict with ties of blood?”
    He gave her another measuring look. “Such