Hunting Read Free Page B

Landsmeet
was not the safest place for Ash to be.
    "What would being your seruilis
involve?"
    "Running my errands, attending to my
equipage, serving me at table, doing whatever else I require of
you. Attending the Mern and listening for anything useful."
    "I'm not likely to be very good at it,"
she said cautiously, summoning up vague childhood memories of
harried seruilisi running to and fro and enjoying themselves very
little indeed. "They'll think you strange to have a seruilis like
me."
    "You will learn to be good at it," he
said, in an uncompromising tone of voice. "And 'they' seem to think
anyone not born to this Rhoimarch strange."
    "Is there someone you suspect?"
    "Nothing beyond complete guesswork.
You?"
    "Not yet. If you hit me I will hit you
back."
    "I doubt it. I do have limits to my
patience. And I am, as you pointed out, somewhat larger than you.
No, you will act as my seruilis and you will do your job well in
order to increase your chance for revenge. If you please me, I will
teach you swordplay, though you are late come to the art."
    The man obviously considered that a
high treat, and Ash wondered whether to tell him she couldn't be
less interested. Knives were her weapons.
    "Are you any good?"
    Her exaggeratedly dubious tone only
made him laugh. "Stop trying to provoke me, boy. What's your full
name?"
    "Ash Lenthard. What's yours?"
    "Rion Thornaster, Visel of
Pembury."
    Visel meant he was the lowest rank of
the Luinsel, with just enough property to drink from the Well of
the Heart and be judged on his worth as a steward of the land, one
of the Luinsel who strove to keep a Balance between the needs of
Luin's children and Luin's own health. But it was the man's name
that gave Ash pause. Thornaster, one of the foreigners behind the
Rhoi's review of Montmoth's laws, and focus of far too much
attention to be comfortable.
    They had reached the mid-section of the
river, where water tinted white by powdered rock thundered down
from the ridge called Luin's Table. Since the bridges around the
Bowl – the circular pool at the fall's base – were the busiest part
of the city, Ash kept her silence as Thornaster crossed the Milk
and headed beneath the natural stone arch which guarded the climb
to the Deirhoi District. The stallion briefly shifted from a walk
to a trot, and Ash firmed her grip on the man's robe, thinking
through the complications of deception. She had changed a great
deal, but her pretence would be put to the greatest test if she
stayed with this man.
    "Where did you live before you came to
your aunt?" Thornaster asked, oblivious to the hurdles she
faced.
    "Khantar."
    "Which part, Ash Lenthard? Don't be
obtuse."
    "I lived in the third house from the
west end of the main street of the village of Cadoken in the shire
of Meeps in north-west Khantar. It rained every second day and we
saw the sun for a good ten hours every year. It smelled of mud and
rot." Ash had never been out of the Rhoimarch of Montmoth in her
life, but Genevieve had brought Cadoken to life for her. Ash had
long since cherished a heartfelt desire never to go there. "I was
only nine when I left," she added.
    "How old are you now?"
    "Seventeen. Almost." Twenty-one in a
few weeks, but no one would ever believe that to look at her. Not
without beginning to wonder at her beardless cheeks and slight
build. "Where's Pembury?"
    "Southwest of Crown of Stars."
    Crown of Stars was the capital of
Aremal, a sprawling Rhoimarch on the far side of Montmoth's
neighbour's neighbour. When pieces of the shattered moon, Yurefaer,
had rained down on Luin, it had been at Crown of Stars that two of
the gods – Luin and the new Sun, Astenar – had manifested to still
the trembling in Luin's depths and clear the skies. When the worst
had passed, the two gods had lingered to leave behind three
children who had become the rulers of the great Rhoimarches –
Aremal, Firuvar and, on the far side of Luin, Araslea. The Estarrel
line descended from the child Astenar had