Stones of Power 01 - Ghost King Read Free Page B

russet tones of her hair - light brown with flecks of gold.
    'You are probably correct, Prince Thuro,' she said with a mock bow, 'for I was never at ease with Lycurgus and I agree with Plutarch in his comparison with Numa. How did he put it? "Virtue rendered the one so respectable as to deserve a throne, and the other so great as to be above it".'
    Thuro returned the bow, but without mockery. 'Forgive my arrogance,' he told her. 'I am not used to feeling this foolish.'
    'You are probably more at ease chasing stags and practising with sword and lance.'
    'No, I am rather poor in those quarters also. I am the despair of my father. I had hoped to impress you with my knowledge, for there is little else I have to brag of.'
    She looked away and poured the cooling oats to her platter, then passed the food to Thuro. 'My name is Laitha. Welcome to my hearth, Prince Thuro.' He searched her face for any hint of mockery, but there was none.
    He accepted the food and ate in silence. Laitha put down the pot and leaned back against the cave wall, watching the young man. He was handsome in a gentle fashion and his eyes were grey as woodsmoke, softly sad and wondrous innocent. Yet for all the gentleness Laitha saw, she found no trace of weakness in his face. The eyes did not waver or turn aside, the mouth showed no hint of petulance. And his open admission of his own physical shortcomings endeared him to the girl, who had seen enough of loud-mouthed braggarts vying to prove their strength and manhood.
    'Why do you not excel?' she asked him. 'Is your sword-master a poor teacher?'
    'I have no interest in sword-play. It tires me and then I fall ill.'
    'In what way ill?'
    He shrugged. 'I am told I almost died at birth, and since then my chest has been weak. I cannot exert myself without becoming dizzy -and then my head pounds and sometimes I lose my sight.'
    'How does your father react to all this?'
    'With great patience and great sadness - I fear I am not the son he would have preferred. But it does not matter. He is as strong as an ox and as fearless as a dragon. He will reign for decades yet - and perhaps he will marry again and sire a proper heir.'
    'What happened to your mother?'
    'She died two days after I was born. The birth was early by a month and Maedhlyn - our Enchanter -
    was absent on the king's business.'
    'And your father never remarried? Strange for a king.'
    'I have never spoken to him of it... but Maedhlyn says she was the still water in his soul and after she had gone there was only fire. There is a wall around Maximus and his grief. None may enter. He cannot look me in the face, for I am much like my mother. And in all the time I can remember he has never touched me - not an arm on the shoulder nor the ruffling of a single hair.
    Maedhlyn tells that when I was four I was struck down with a terrible fever and my spirit was lost within the darkness of the Void. He says my father came to me then and took me in his arms, and his spirit searched for mine across the darkness. He found me and brought me home. But I remember nothing of it and that saddens me. I would like to be able to recall that moment.'
    'He must love you greatly,' she whispered.
    'I do not know.' He looked up at her and smiled. 'Thank you for the oats. I must be going.'
    'I will guide you to the ford above Deicester,' she said.
    He did not argue and waited while she cleaned her pot, platter and spoon. She stowed them in a canvas pack which she slung to her shoulder and then, taking up her bow and quiver, she set out alongside him. The snow was falling thickly now and he was glad she was travelling with him.
    Without tracks to follow, he knew he would have been lost within minutes.
    They had gone but a little way towards the trail when they hear the sound of horses riding at speed. In the first second that he heard the horsemen, Thuro was delighted - soon he would be back at the castle and warm again. But then he realised it would mean saying goodbye to Laitha and on