Page 5 (1/2)
To Terri
The Hero and the Crown takes place some considerable span of years before the tiraphical differences between the Damar of Aerin's day and that of Harry's
Part One
Chapter 1
SHE COULD NOT REMEMBER a ti it She supposed someone must have told her it, so She was beyond having to blink back tears when she thought of those things the story explained, but when she was feeling sh in the Da about the around her te like suppressed tears
She brooded, looking out over the wide low sill of the stone -fralassy surface of the courtyard was too bright atHer ht have told her the story? It wouldn't have been her father who told her, for he had rarely spoken er; his slow kind shtly preoccupied air had been the most she knew of him She had always known that he was fond of her, which was soun to come into focus for him, and that, as he had told her himself, in an unexpected fashion He had the best - the only - right to have told her the story of her birth, but he would not have done so
Nor would it have been the hafor, the folk of the household; they were polite to her always, in their ay, and reserved, and spoke to her only about household details It surprised her that they still re since proven that she possessed nothing to be wary about Royal children were usually so to be in daily contact with, for their Gifts often erupted in abrupt and unexpected ways It was a little surprising, even, that the hafor still bothered to treat her with respect, for the fact that she was her father's daughter was supported by nothing but the fact that her father's wife had borne her But then, for all that was said about her ested that she was not an honest wife
And she would not have run and told tales on any of the hafor who slighted her, as Galanna would - and regularly did, even though everyone treated her with the greatest deference humanly possible Galanna's Gift, it was dryly said, was to be impossible to please But perhaps from the hafor's viewpoint it was not worth the risk to discover any points of similarity or dissimilarity between herself and Galanna; and a life of service in a household that included Galanna doubtless rendered anyone ithstood it auto that moved She smiled She could see the wind stir the treetops, for the surface of the Hills seemed to ripple beneath the blue sky; the breeze, when it slid through her , smelled of leaves
It ht very well have been Galanna who told her the story, come to that It would be like her; and Galanna had always hated her - still did, for all that she was gro, and married besides, to Perlith, as a second sola of Da; but Galanna had hoped toIt was no matter that Tor would not have had Galanna if she had been the only royal maiden available - "I'd run off into the Hills and be a bandit first," a one off in fits of giggles at the idea of Tor wearing rags and a blue headband and dancing for luck under each quarter of the moon Tor, who at the time had been stiff with terror at Galanna's very deterrin and tell her she had no proper respect and was a shameless hoyden "Yes," she said unrepentantly Tor, for whatever reasons, was rather over-for first sola to a soleht have had that effect on a farrateful for her existence as she was for his; one of her earliestin a baby-sack over Tor's shoulders while he galloped his horse over a series of hurdles; she had screaht and wound her tiny hands in his thick black hair Teka, later, had been furious; but Tor, who usually took any accusation of the slightest dereliction of duty hite lips and a set face, had only laughed
But whenever she decided that it must have been Galanna who first told her the story, she found she couldn't believe it of her after all Having told it for spite and randeur But perhaps she only felt that way because it was about her ed it in her own ossip But that Galanna would deliberately spend enough time in her company to tell her the story was out of character; Galanna preferred whenever possible to look vaguely over the head of the least of her cousins, with an expression on her face indicating that there was a dead fly on the sill and why hadn't the hafor swept it away? When Galanna was startled into speaking to her at all, it was usually froeance The tale of Arlbeth's second ould be too roundabout for her purposes Still, that it had been one of the cousins was the best guess Not Tor, of course One of the others
She leaned out of theand looked down It was hard to recognize people from the tops of their heads, several stories up Except Tor; she always knew hi an inch or two beyond a doorframe This below her noas probably Perlith: that self-satisfied as distinctive even from above, and the way three of the hafor, dressed in fine livery, trailed behind him for no purpose but to lend to their master's importance by their presence pretty well assured it Tor went about alone, when he could; he told her, gri the course of his duties as first sola, and the last thing he wanted was an unofficial entourage for any gaps in the official ones And she'd like to see her father pulling velvet-covered flunkeys in his wake, like a child with a toy on a string
Perlith's head spoke to another dark head, the hafor waiting respectfully several arth distant; then souish voices but she heard the click of hoofs - eed froer, and the cut of his saddle said he came from the west Both heads turned toward him and tipped up, so she could see the pale blur of their faces as they spoke to hi its feet very delicately, for it was dangerous to go too quickly across the courtyard; and Perlith and the other e, disappeared from her view
She didn't have to hear what they said to each other to knoas going on; but the knowledge gave her no pleasure, for it had already brought her both shame and bitter disappointment It was either the shame or the disappointment that kept her mewed up in her rooms, alone, now
She had hardly seen her father or Tor for the week past as they wrestled with ers, as they tried to slohatever it was that would happen anyhile they tried to decide what to do when it had happened The western barons - the fourth solas - weretrouble The rumor was that soh to look it, had carried a bit of demon-mischief south across the Border and let it loose at the barons' council in the spring Nyrlol was the chief of the council for no better reason than that his father had been chief; but his father had been a better and a wiser ence, and he was known for a short and violent teet for demon-mischief
Nyrlol's father would have recognized it for what it was But Nyrlol had not recognized anything; it had simply seemed like a wonderful idea to secede fro Arlbeth and Tor-sola, and set hi Nyrlol; and to slap a new tax on his far of an army, eventually to take the rest of Damar away from Arlbeth and Tor, who didn't run it as well as he could He ed to convince several of his fellow barons (de, will usually then spread like a plague) of the brilliance of his plan, while the mischief muddled their wits There had been a further rumor, much fainter, that Nyrlol had, with his wonderful idea, suddenly developed aability to sway those who heard hi one, for, if true, the de indeed
Arlbeth had chosen to pay no attention to the second ruh attention to it to discount it, that none of his folk ht think he shunned it froh that he o Tor, and a substantial portion of the army, and almost as substantial a portion of the court, with all its velvets and jewels brought along for a fine grand show of courtesy, to pretend to disguise the army at its back But both sides would know that the army was an army, and the show only a show What Arlbeth planned to do was both difficult and dangerous, for he wished to prevent a civil war, not provoke one He would choose those to go with hireatest care and caution
"But you're taking Perlith?" she'd asked Tor disbelievingly, when she met him by chance one day, out behind the barns, where she could let her disbelief show
Tor gri, but he's actually pretty effective at this sort of thing - because he's such a good liar, you know, and because he can say the racious manner"
No woht be pero with their husbands, those who could ride and had been trained in cavalry drill; and those who could be trusted to sotiations went), and curtsy to him as befitted his rank as fourth sola, and even dance with hio unless her husband asked her, and no husband would ask unless he had asked the king first
Galanna would certainly not go, even if Perlith had been willing to go to the trouble of obtaining leave froranted) Fortunately for the peace of all concerned, Galanna had no interest in going; anything rese hardship did not appeal to her in the least, and she was sure that nothing in the barbaric west could possibly be worth her time and beauty
To Terri
The Hero and the Crown takes place some considerable span of years before the tiraphical differences between the Damar of Aerin's day and that of Harry's
Part One
Chapter 1
SHE COULD NOT REMEMBER a ti it She supposed someone must have told her it, so She was beyond having to blink back tears when she thought of those things the story explained, but when she was feeling sh in the Da about the around her te like suppressed tears
She brooded, looking out over the wide low sill of the stone -fralassy surface of the courtyard was too bright atHer ht have told her the story? It wouldn't have been her father who told her, for he had rarely spoken er; his slow kind shtly preoccupied air had been the most she knew of him She had always known that he was fond of her, which was soun to come into focus for him, and that, as he had told her himself, in an unexpected fashion He had the best - the only - right to have told her the story of her birth, but he would not have done so
Nor would it have been the hafor, the folk of the household; they were polite to her always, in their ay, and reserved, and spoke to her only about household details It surprised her that they still re since proven that she possessed nothing to be wary about Royal children were usually so to be in daily contact with, for their Gifts often erupted in abrupt and unexpected ways It was a little surprising, even, that the hafor still bothered to treat her with respect, for the fact that she was her father's daughter was supported by nothing but the fact that her father's wife had borne her But then, for all that was said about her ested that she was not an honest wife
And she would not have run and told tales on any of the hafor who slighted her, as Galanna would - and regularly did, even though everyone treated her with the greatest deference humanly possible Galanna's Gift, it was dryly said, was to be impossible to please But perhaps from the hafor's viewpoint it was not worth the risk to discover any points of similarity or dissimilarity between herself and Galanna; and a life of service in a household that included Galanna doubtless rendered anyone ithstood it auto that moved She smiled She could see the wind stir the treetops, for the surface of the Hills seemed to ripple beneath the blue sky; the breeze, when it slid through her , smelled of leaves
It ht very well have been Galanna who told her the story, come to that It would be like her; and Galanna had always hated her - still did, for all that she was gro, and married besides, to Perlith, as a second sola of Da; but Galanna had hoped toIt was no matter that Tor would not have had Galanna if she had been the only royal maiden available - "I'd run off into the Hills and be a bandit first," a one off in fits of giggles at the idea of Tor wearing rags and a blue headband and dancing for luck under each quarter of the moon Tor, who at the time had been stiff with terror at Galanna's very deterrin and tell her she had no proper respect and was a shameless hoyden "Yes," she said unrepentantly Tor, for whatever reasons, was rather over-for first sola to a soleht have had that effect on a farrateful for her existence as she was for his; one of her earliestin a baby-sack over Tor's shoulders while he galloped his horse over a series of hurdles; she had screaht and wound her tiny hands in his thick black hair Teka, later, had been furious; but Tor, who usually took any accusation of the slightest dereliction of duty hite lips and a set face, had only laughed
But whenever she decided that it must have been Galanna who first told her the story, she found she couldn't believe it of her after all Having told it for spite and randeur But perhaps she only felt that way because it was about her ed it in her own ossip But that Galanna would deliberately spend enough time in her company to tell her the story was out of character; Galanna preferred whenever possible to look vaguely over the head of the least of her cousins, with an expression on her face indicating that there was a dead fly on the sill and why hadn't the hafor swept it away? When Galanna was startled into speaking to her at all, it was usually froeance The tale of Arlbeth's second ould be too roundabout for her purposes Still, that it had been one of the cousins was the best guess Not Tor, of course One of the others
She leaned out of theand looked down It was hard to recognize people from the tops of their heads, several stories up Except Tor; she always knew hi an inch or two beyond a doorframe This below her noas probably Perlith: that self-satisfied as distinctive even from above, and the way three of the hafor, dressed in fine livery, trailed behind him for no purpose but to lend to their master's importance by their presence pretty well assured it Tor went about alone, when he could; he told her, gri the course of his duties as first sola, and the last thing he wanted was an unofficial entourage for any gaps in the official ones And she'd like to see her father pulling velvet-covered flunkeys in his wake, like a child with a toy on a string