Sing the Four Quarters Read Free Page A

specific request.
    Personally, Annice preferred to repeat variations of short phrases over and over. It occasionally got tedious, but it usually got results.
    The kigh listened for a few moments, one lifting a swell two feet into the air the better to stare intently at the source of the Song, then suddenly all three dove and the boat jerked forward.
    "Whoa!" Sarlo took a steadying step and braced herself against the sweep as Annice let the Song fade to silence.
    "This'll make us some time. How long do you figger they'll push for?"
    Annice slumped forward. "Hard to say," she admitted. "I haven't actually asked for much, so we might make it out of the slow stretch before they get bored."
    "Then what?"
    "Then I'll play them a gratitude and we're back on our own."
    "They won't hang around and cause trouble?"
    "Probably not…" A sudden gust of wind lifted the top off a wave and flung it up over the high stern deck of the riverboat and into Annice's face. The air kigh flicked the last few drops off its fingers at her, then sped away.
    "More kigh?" Sarlo asked.
    "More kigh," Annice sighed and pulled the sleeve of her sweater down to wipe at the freezing water. "I've always been strongest in air, so they get jealous when I Sing the others."
    "Sort of like being followed around by a bunch of obnoxious kids."
    "Worse."
    The pilot snorted. "You were never stuck on a river-boat with my right-out-of-the-Circle three."
    "Why didn't you leave them with their father?"
    "Couldn't. He was my crew till he got knocked off and drowned."
    "I'm sorry."
    "Why? You weren't the one what pushed him in."
    Annice didn't care how unbardlike it was; she wasn't going to ask, she didn't want to know.
    They were a day out of Riverton, buildings frequently visible on shore through the slanting rain, when Jon cast off a completed sock and said, "I figured out who you remind me of"
    Annice felt her shoulders stiffen
    "I was watching you last night at the inn, while you sang in the common room," he continued "Firelight was flickering on your profile, turning it kind of goldlike, and it suddenly hit me " He reached under his clothes and pulled out a coin In spite of herself, Annice leaned over and looked Most of the sharp definition had worn away over the years, but it was still easy to see that the profile of the last king, not the current one, lay cradled in his palm He would have a Mikus, not a Theron , she sighed The gold coins were struck only once, at the beginning of a reign and named for the likeness of the king they bore
    Jon tucked the old coin safely away "You look like your father"

    "Only from that side"
    "My youngest brother knows all twenty-seven verses to The Princess-Bard' and still sings it"
    The only response she could think of was too rude to say, so she clamped her teeth shut
    "Not a lot of songs stay popular for ten years, but this one's got a real catchy tune " He started to hum but abruptly broke off when he caught sight of her expression "I, uh, I guess you're tired of hearing it"
    "You might say that Yes"
    "Sorry It's just—well, the Princess-Bard crammed in right here beside me"
    "It's the same person who was crammed in beside you yesterday"
    "But yesterday, I didn't know you were the Princess Bard"
    If he said it again, she was going to slug him
    "Do you ever miss it7 Being royal7"
    "No Never"
    And because she'd been trained to use her voice, he believed the he Annice had been fourteen when she left the palace for the Bardic Hall in Elbasan and while she never regretted the decision, she did occasionally wish that some things could've been different
    Given the chance to live it over, would she make the same choice7"
    Yes
    "King Mikus is near death"
    The whisper had scurried around the palace for days The king had been dying for months, but this new phrasing had finally gained enough conviction to be repeated as a certainty in the city Goldsmiths who had the royal charter were making ready to cast the new coins Bards were working on