Once Upon a Summer Day Read Free Page B

the four towers yet sat upright in their corners. And in the midst of all the downed échecsmen, the white queen stood surrounded.

3
    Counsel

    “ W hat about the Lady of the Mere?” said Camille, setting aside her spoon. She looked at Alain and added, “Without her aid I never would have found you.”
    “Lady Sorcière?” said Borel.
    “Yes,” said Camille. “That is one of her names. Another is Skuld, She Who Sees the Future.”
    “Lady Wyrd, you mean, one of the Fates,” said Borel.
    “Another of her names,” said Camille. “Regardless, perhaps she can help you with this vision of yours.”
    “If she is willing,” said Alain. “She doesn’t come at just anyone’s beck.”
    Céleste nodded in agreement. “It is told that something must be of vital import, else she will not appear.”
    Borel sighed and shook his head. “I do not think I will disturb Lady Wyrd at her mere unless the apparition comes once again and I am truly convinced she is real. After all, I might merely have had a dream.”
    Alain looked ’round the table, then took up the small bell and rang it, and servants swept in and removed the soup bowls, and others came with dishes and platters and crystal decanters of red wine and stemmed glasses, and moved about and served, and then quickly vanished again.
    Borel held his wine up to the light, as if seeking guidance within its ruby depths. “Besides, I would return to the Winterwood to see if the witch Hradian yet dwells therein.”
    “Wait, Borel,” said Camille. “Did you not propose to Lord Valeray that after the wedding we would get a warband together and run the witch down?”
    “Oui,” said Borel. “Even so, I would go and see if she yet stays in that cote of hers.”
    A grim look came into Alain’s eye. “Facing a witch alone is perilous. I will go with you.”
    “No, no, Frère,” said Borel, pushing out a hand of negation. “I do not intend to face her unless there is no other choice. Besides”—he smiled at Camille, then turned to Alain again—“you will be needed here to prepare for the wedding.” He glanced at Céleste and Liaze and added, “As will you two.”
    Camille sighed and took her knife to the veal cutlet. “I don’t know, Borel. I think you should wait. Hradian is a formidable foe. I agree with Alain: to go alone would be a mistake.”
    “But I will not be alone,” said Borel. “My Wolves—”
    “I think they cannot protect you from a curse,” said Liaze.
    Céleste frowned at Borel. “Heed, Frère: she is a witch and likely to have wards about.”
    Borel waved a negligent hand, then took a sip of his wine, and Céleste expelled her breath in exasperation.
    Camille set aside her knife. “From what the Lady of the Bower said, and from what I have deduced, she is a priestess of, or at least an acolyte of, the Wizard Orbane, the one who created those terrible tokens of power—the Seals of Orbane—perhaps in his strongholt on Troll Isle.”
    “I am told it is no longer called Troll Isle, Sister-to-be,” said Borel, grinning, “but L’île de Camille instead, so named in honor of you after your warband slew the Trolls and Goblins and set Alain and the captives free.”
    “Try not to distract me with flattery, Borel,” said Camille, “for no matter the name of the isle, still it once was Orbane’s strongholt, and it was there I believe Hradian found several of those dreadful seals. I am certain it was she who gave two of them to the Trolls, and they used them to lay the curses upon Alain. Too, Hradian mayhap used another when she ensorcelled your père and mère. And if she yet has some of them, indeed you will be in grave peril.”
    “If that be the case,” said Borel, “I would rather go alone than subject any of you to the hazard. Besides, I do not intend to confront her head-on, but rather to use stealth and guile, and one alone is certainly more stealthy than the five of us would be. Hence, with nought but my Wolves and me seeking