The Wolf of Harrow Hall (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 7) Read Free

can get word to her somehow?”
    A long pause, and then Amery said, his voice heavy, “I will send Evvyn. He still regards a walk in the winter woods as an adventure.”
    Evvyn was Amery’s youngest, a lively boy of nine. He would look on the delivery of such a message as a welcome task, rather than an icy journey with little reward. Well, some reward would be involved, for I was certain my grandmother would give him one of her honey cakes as a gift for delivering the message.
    “Thank you, Amery.” That was all I said, but he seemed to understand.
    “I cannot stop you from doing this, Bettany. But…take care.”
    “I always do,” I said stoutly, then turned from him so I might take the path that led northward out of the village.
    To Lord Greymount.
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    A t first , the going was easy enough. True, the air around me was still and cold, biting against the exposed skin of my face, but I was used to winter’s chill. At least there was no wind to speak of, nothing I would have to fight against as I made my way through the forest. And yes, perhaps there was the risk of encountering a wild animal, but my grandfather had taught me they were often more afraid of us than we were of them, and if I walked calmly with a strong, sure step, more often than not any animals I encountered would avoid me and go in search of easier prey.
    Besides, ever since Grandfather died, I had worn a long knife on my belt as I went about my business in the forest. That knife served many useful purposes, not the least of which was deterring predators, whether or not they went on four legs or two. Yes, the village was safe enough, as were the lands that surrounded it, but I often had to range far in my searches for dye-stuffs, and I had heard rumors that sometimes desperate men would hide within the woods, outlaws seeking to escape the justice of the Mark’s guard.
    Those rumors had remained just that, for I had never seen anything more frightening than a bear on those foraging missions. It was hard to say who was more startled in that one instance, the bear or I. We had stared at one another for a long moment, and then he turned and ambled away, and a minute or so after that, I remembered to breathe.
    So I felt safe enough as I made my way steadily northward. Perhaps it had been foolish to set out with no food or water, but three leagues was really not as far as Amery wished to make it sound. Walking briskly, I should reach Lord Greymount’s castle within three hours. Surely they would offer enough hospitality that I would be given water and perhaps a small bite to eat, oatcakes or somesuch.
    No, a castle would most likely have something far grander to offer than oatcakes. My imagination rather failed me at that point, for of course I had never seen the inside of a castle, or the outside, for that matter. When Lord Greymount’s men came to collect the taxes, or to inspect the woodlands, they did present rather a fine appearance in their doublets of deep blue with the silver wolf’s head emblazoned on the breast, and their steel greaves and helmets shining in the sun. But they never stayed, not even to take some porter at Hamm’s inn, before returning to their lordship’s castle.
    Their lordship. What would he be like, our lord of Harrow Hall? I had heard only the barest details of his person, for even the gossips in the village did not have much information to relate. He was not all that old, being some thirty and three years. The title and the castle had gone to him nearly two decades ago, when the former Lord Greymount passed from a fever and left his young son to carry on without him. Ever since Phelan Greymount inherited the lands that had been his father’s, we expected to hear that he had taken a noble bride from the court in Tarenmar, so he might carry on the family line, but it seemed his lordship was not disposed to marry, for he was yet without a wife.
    Since no one in the village had ever seen him, and because of his apparent