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"Alas," Druthmar replied, with a pleasant smile, "I do not"
Mistress Otlinde looked like the kind of merchant who recalled every least transaction she had ever s she had sucked dry "I pray you, let lant’s attention was caught by his daughter, who had bolted away froone to exa, she grabbed the edge, hoisted herself up, and slithered in through the gaudy draperies protecting the woman concealed within
Anna shrieked in protest The Ungrians called out in shock and dis’s s it as it vanished behind the curtains The slaves leaped to their feet, as distressed as fowl caught napping by a fox Bayan swore in Ungrian He touched the curtain, jerked as if he’d been stung, and leaped back, face white
"God have mercy!" cried Sapientia, not without satisfaction She saw Sanglant and gestured broadly "Look what trouble the child has caused already! How can we ever repair such an insult to a Kerayit sha he didn’t understand the powers of a Kerayit shaman, but he’d ridden with Bayan before, and where Bayan rode, his mother was never far behind He reached the palanquin at a run only to be stopped by Bayan, who thrust out an ar of you, go not to lant
"Please, Daddy, can you wait?" Blessing’s voice sang out from behind the curtains, as cheerful as a sunny su with the old lady"
Sweating, Bayan wiped his eyes and called for a cup of ale His interpreter, Brother Breschius, drew him aside and they fell into a whispered conversation until a soldier hurried up with a cup and a pitcher The filled cup was passed around the asseain
As they drank, there was silence except for the click and clack of beads swaying as the bearers shifted position again In this su that Sanglant could not help but ie to think that an old wo in common with Villam’s heir, even if it was only a lascivious eye for the ure Not many women, or men for that matter, possessed Waltharia’s easy authority, blunt common sense, and playfully sharp disposition HowWaltharia to Liath over these past weeks? Liath had none of Waltharia’s winning qualities: she was secretive, serious, and not one bit accusto in authority over anyone except perhaps herself But she was still the lorious woman he had ever
Yet did she think of hione?
He heard Blessing’s voice chattering away and the occasionalabout the heavy curtains around the palanquin or the haze oftheir words By his daughter’s tone it was quite obvious that she was in fine fettle, babbling happily What on Earth could she and the old shaman have to talk about?
Unable to wait patiently, he examined Mistress Otlinde’s wares, laid out over racks: tabby linens and diadom of Alba, marten, beaver, and fox pelts from the Starviki chiefdo the fall of the Dariyan Empire to the Bwr horde Somewhere she had found two score of Qureasy hair and stick-thin children scratching fleas and sores who sat huddled abjectly in the dirt, having long since given up any hope of escape or succor But a them stood a dozen Quman men with deceptively bovine stares, as concealed, in their oay, as Bayan’s mother was concealed behind her curtains He knew that look; he’d seen it in other prisoners, the erous kind Any one of these h to let thelided up beside hi a little, and spoke in a low voice "They’re out of the Shatai tribe You can see the cloven hoof of the red deer cut into that man’s shoulder"
"Are they allies of the Pechanek?"
"Nay, they never have been There has been fighting in the Karkaihi pasturage the last few years That’s almost to the Bitter Sea"
He exa neither hate nor fear He adrim aloofness hich they endured their fate He’d never hated the Quo Bulkezu had ruined his voice and killed too reater harreater harm to him than he’d done to them in his turn