The Blue Falcon Read Free Page B

confusion at Chandra’s nakedness.
    “ Chandra? What are you doing?”
    Chandra shrugged and knelt on her pallet to grasp her fresh new shift to pull it on. “ It is nearly time for the first mass,” she said as casually as she could.
    “ I have never known you to hurry to mass,” Laine grumbled, beginning to rise herself.
    Chandra kept her face turned from her older sister so that her sly smile would not show. She moved to a stool in the corner of the small room where her favorite gown had been so carefully laid the night before. Trying not to appear rushed, she pulled the precious gown over her head and smoothed it over her middle and thighs. It was the softest cream, topsewn with green. On the breast a fish had been carefully embroi dered. The sleeves were full and flowing, and she pulled the green ribbon tightly under her breasts.
    She reached within the deep pocket to be certain the article she treasured was there, and feeling the soft fabric strip within, she patted it confidently. She sat on the stool to fit the small slippers onto her feet and then grabbed up the wimple she would wear on her head.
    When her hand touched the door to the small bedchamber, Edwina was just coming awake.
    “ The window,” she moaned. “ Who opened the window?”
    “ Good morningtide, Edwina,” Chandra sang cheerily.
    “ Where are you going? The sun is barely up.”
    “ It is almost time for mass,” Chandra said brightly, moving out the door as quickly as she could.
    The air was cool and the ground moist. Chandra lifted her skirts and walked briskly, smiling and nodding good morning to those men-at-arms she passed. The smile was quickly returned and with a slight bow, for her manner was gay and her face as bright as a morning star. She saw the falcon again as she neared the lists, and then finally she saw him and her pace slowed abruptly.
    She stopped and looked at his back as he stroked his bird. His robes of red and blue accentuated his broadness, and her heart jumped again. The bird suddenly spread his wings and Conan’s gauntleted hand responded by moving with the bird. “ That will do,” he said. The bird moved again and seemed to communicate something to him, for he threw back his head and laughed. With that action she could see the bright smile break the darkness of his beard. “ Not now, Mars,” he said. “ Other things command my attention this morn.”
    Sir Conan fitted a hood over his bird’s head, and Chandra felt sharp disappointment, for she had longed to see him perform. When travelers would pass through her father’s hall, they often had heard of or seen Sir Conan. They painted a picture for her with their words, a vision of a man taller than his peers and dark as the night, with bright, sparkling blue eyes and a trained falcon that seemed to respond to his very thoughts.
    The bird made no further argument and was put to rest on a perch outside the blue and red pavilion. Conan surveyed the equipment of his profession, stacked neatly against the sides of the tent. Mail, armor, shield and sword shone as they had not shone in years.
    Conan picked up a bag of oats to attach to his horse’s snout, but Orion seemed to refuse the nourishment and pawed at the turf. Conan whirled to look behind him as if he expected an assassin. The quick action caused Chandra to jump in surprise.
    Chandra recovered herself and moved closer, smiling at the frown he wore as he studied her. She dropped into a low curtsy, then rose to meet his suspicious eyes. “ Good morningtide, sir knight,” she said softly.
    Conan’s eyes roved over her, devouring the petite form and fresh little face. He looked to her hand and saw her wimple still held there, not covering the long, golden locks that trailed down her back. When his eyes fell upon the fish embroidered on the breast of her gunna, the suspicion vanished from his eyes and he smiled with amusement.
    “ Damsel, you took me by surprise.”
    She laughed lightly. “ I would have