The Blue Falcon Read Free

given you much -- ”
    “ Alaric throws his gold to an army that does naught but decorate yon wall!” she fairly snarled. “ And I have not worked and waited all these years for more of the same from my son!”
    “ Madam -- ”
    “ If you will not help me, I will help myself. But I warn you, one day you will regret your reluctance.”
    Giselle shook her head sadly. “ You will find no success, my lady, for there is a plan and it is not yours to decide. Conan is bound to her already, the stars in the heavens know this. He will seek her, even in death.”
    Udele sprang to her feet, knocking over the chair in her haste and anger. Her cloak swirled wide as she spun and reached for the basket on the bench. “ I would have some lace,” she said coolly. A few coins were dropped onto the table where Giselle sat.
    Wearily, the woman rose and carefully drew out some lengths of lace that had been many tedious hours in the making. She spread a half dozen samples across a bench and stood back so that Lady Udele could make her choice.
    Udele looked at them blandly, not interested in the lace at all. She let her eyes rise to meet Giselle’s and saw that the woman had not changed her mind. Udele would have no help in changing the course of Conan’s life. With a furious hiss she snatched up a length of lace and stuffed it into her basket. She whirled and was gone.
    Giselle stared for a moment at the door left ajar by the most powerful woman in Anselm. She suddenly felt very tired. Her energy was drained, and it took great effort to walk to the door and close it. She leaned against it and mused aloud, “ I could not have known that to entwine my life with yours would create havoc.”
    In the beginning, Giselle understood the difficulty of Udele’s situation. While Alaric was a good and generous man, always fair and just, he was settled into a role of master. He worshiped Udele’s beauty and youth, but he also com manded her. She did not easily see the good fortune in having been given to a man such as Alaric. Giselle had expected Udele to mature and in time come to appreciate her incred ible good fortune, but that did not come to pass. While Udele served her husband dutifully and played the devoted wife skillfully, it was plain she had never come to love him.
    All the years of visits had meshed their minds so completely that when Udele was troubled, Giselle woke from a sound sleep. When Udele was gay, Giselle would feel the energy. And when Udele was enraged, Giselle could not work the intricate patterns of her laces because her hands would shake so severely. Now, without the need of the precious crystal, Giselle could feel the disaster Udele would weave into her son’s life.
    Giselle moved slowly to the one-room addition to the shop that served as her home. Behind a curtain on a shelf she found the earthen bowls she sought. She reached into one and pulled out some black, brittle twigs. From another she withdrew a pungent- smelling orange powder and from yet another bowl she took a silver, flaky substance. In the palm of one hand she combined the things and moved to the fire. She sprinkled some of the mixture over the embers and the flame sparked. A purple smoke seemed to fill the room. Her eyes closed and she was entranced. She sprinkled more of the mixture over the flame. More smoke filled the room, though the opening in the roof of her small cottage should have allowed the purple cloud easy escape.
    “ Bring the woman to Sir Conan’s eyes with haste,” she muttered. Again her fixings were sprinkled into the fire. “ Let his eyes fall on her this very day. Move his spirit before his head this once. Put the maid of his choice before his eyes before it is too late.”
    Within a few moments the room cleared of the colorful smoke, and the lacemaker’s eyes opened. She had beseeched some power greater than her own without much confidence. Though her ability to see things to come wa s clearly recog nized in her youth, her ability