Page 59 (1/1)

Not so ers of dawn showed on the horizon yet, but the Cairhienin were beginning to stir around the carts, andmore quickly the closer Faile ca, their lanterns bobbing and swinging in the dimness The Two Riversbreakfast, soru the work done A few tried to stay in their blankets and were unceremoniously tumbled out Grady and Neald were up, too, as always off by the the trees Perrin could not recall seeing them without those coats, always buttoned to the neck, always clean and unwrinkled coht before Stepping through the for the sword as they did everypractice, when they would sit crosslegged, hands on knees, staring at so then that anyone could see, yet not a man in the camp but knehat they were about and kept as far off as possible Not even the Maidens would step into their line of sight then

So, Perrin realized with a start Faile always had one of the e they breakfasted on, but it see, he hurried toward the cook fires, hoping at least to be able to dip up his own porridge for once A small hope

Flann Barstere, a lanky felloith a dent in his chin, met him halfway and shoved a carved bowl into his hands Flann was from up toward Watch Hill, and Perrin did not know hiether a ti one of his father’s cows out of a boghole in the Waterwood "The Lady Faile toldthis to you, Perrin," Flann said anxiously "You won’t tell her I forgot, will you? You won’t tell? I found soh At least Flann had reet aith doing the simplest chores for hi beneath the trees Without hi ready for the day’s chores around the far whether theydown the honeyed porridge quickly, he told Aram to take his ease over breakfast, but the man looked so miserable that he relented, so Aram followed as he made his way around the camp The journey was not one Perrin enjoyed

Men put down their bohen he approached, or even stood until he passed He gritted his teeth whenever sorown up with, or worse, a man who had sent him on errands as a boy, called him Lord Perrin Not everyone did, but toothem to stop out of sheer weariness; all too often the reply was "Oh! Whatever you say, Lord Perrin" It was enough to make a man howl!

Despite that, he made hih, he kept his eyes open And his nose They all knew enough to keep their bows in good repair and tend the fletching and points on their arrows, but some would wear the soles out of their boots or the botto, or let blisters fester because they could not be bothered to do anything about the up brandy when they could, and two or three of those had no head for it at all There had been a s Bethal that held no fewer than three inns

It was very strange Having Mistress Luhhan or his mother tell him he needed new boots or his breeches , and he was sure he would have been irritated at the sarizzled old Jondyn Barran on down, the Two Rivers ht you are, Lord Perrin; I’ll see to it straight away" or so at one another when he moved on And they smelled pleased! When he rooted a clay jar of pear brandy out of Jori Congar’s saddlebags -- a skinny felloho ate twice as much as anyone else and always looked as if he had not had a bite in a week, Jori was a good shot with a bow, but given a chance he would drink until he could not stand, and he had light fingers besides -- Jori gave him a wideeyed look and spread his hands as if he did not knohere the jar had co the brandy onto the ground, Jori laughed, "You can’t put anything over on Lord Perrin!" He sounded proud! Soht he was the only sane person left

Another thing, he noticed One and all, they were very interested in what he did not say Man after man cast an eye toward the two banners that occasionally flapped atop their poles in a brief gust, Red Wolfhead and Red Eagle They eyed the banners and watched his had coh before that Except that he had said nothing yesterday, and he said nothing today, and he saw speculation bloo at the banners and at hi themselves He did not try to listen What would they say if he rong, if the Whitecloaks or King Ailron decided they could look away froh to snuff out a supposed rebellion? They were his responsibility, and he had already gotten tooabove the horizon, spreading a sharp ht, by the tiere lugging out chests under Lini’s direction, while Maighdin and Breane appeared to be sorting the contents out on a broad patch of dead grass, blankets and linens ht swaths of silk satin that had been intended to drape the bed he had le of idiots were cooling their heels not far off No carrying and hauling for the a look at Stayer and Stepper, but when he glanced through the trees at the horselines, he was seen No fewer than three of the farriers stepped out anxiously, watching his in a basket, though Falton had only a fringe of white around his head, Ae, and Jerasid had not yet coht of thegle if he lifted a hoof The one tie a worn shoe, on Stayer, all six farriers had darted about grabbing up tools before he could touch the the bay over in their rush