Lightnings Daughter by Mary Herbert (android based ebook reader .txt) 📗

she saw something there she had never noticed before. That cold, calculating smile was exactly like his father's. Lord Savaric had been a deliberate, control ed, cunning man who had often harnessed his anger to fire his actions. He had always sought for ways to turn difficulties to his advantage.

Gabria sighed to herself. Athlone was going to need every scrap of his father's wiles and self-control tonight.

The treld was peaceful as the travelers left their hut and walked down the path toward the hall. The sun had dropped below the hil s, leaving the plains to the approaching night. The smells of cooking food and wood smoke mingled in the treld with the usual smells of animals and people.

As the party approached the chieftain's hal , Bregan took the lead and the other hearthguard warriors gathered around their lord. Piers, Khan'di, and Sayyed drew close to Gabria. Without asking to enter, they walked past the startled guards and strode under the flapping yel ow banner above the doors into the large stone hall.

Lord Caurus, his wer-tain, a few hearthguard, and several bachelors were grouped around a long, wooden table near the center of the hal . Caurus's wife, Lady Maril, and two girls were busy serving the men from a platter of roast meats and a kettle of stewed vegetables.

The entire group fell silent as the Khulinin chief and his companions entered the hal . Lord Caurus, for once, went very pale.

"Forgive me, Caurus," Athlone said, his voice amiable. "We seem to be late."

There was nothing for the Reidhar to do, short of openly insulting the Khulinin, so he accepted the party's presence. With an ill-tempered look and a grudging gesture, Lord Caurus ordered the bachelors to another table and had places cleared for Athlone and his party. Lady Maril hastily set eating knives and plates for the guests and poured wine. The Reidhar warriors did not utter a word.

The serving girls brought more meat and vegetables and laid out baskets with thick slabs of bread.

Gabria thought the meal would have been quite good if the silence and tension had not been so palpable. As it was, she found it very difficult to ignore the hostile looks of her hosts. Even Lady Maril, who sat beside her lord to eat her meal, remained grimly quiet.

Finally, the silence became too much for Lord Caurus. He pushed away his platter and said to Athlone, "I heard you found some spare horses."

Athlone continued to eat for a few minutes before he answered. "Ah, yes. A trader from Calah had a few strong horses he was willing to part with. Unfortunately, he only had three. The rest of the stock we saw was quite poor." He took a bite of bread and did not bother to look at Lord Caurus.

Caurus colored slightly and leaned back in his carved chair. "Your horses seem weary. You have been traveling fast?"

Athlone nodded. "As fast as we could." He was not going to give this ill-mannered boor the satisfaction of an easy answer. He gestured to a girl for another helping of meat.

"Your business must be urgent."

"Yes,” the Khulinin chief replied casually.

"Where are you going?" Caurus pressed.

"Hunting."

At the other end of the table, Sayyed choked back a laugh, and Caurus turned fiercely on him. "And you, Turic, what are you doing with clansmen?"

The young tribesman stood up and bowed. "I am Sayyed Raid-Ja, son of Dultar of Sharja. I am traveling the Ramtharin Plains to compare the hospitality of the clans."

"And you, Pra Deshian,” Caurus rapped at Khan'di.

"Where are you going?"

The stocky nobleman raised and lowered his eyebrows as if he had just been asked a stupid question. "With them," he said, waving his hand at the table in general.

"I see." Caurus twisted his mustache in anger. His expression was thunderous, and white showed around the edges of his mouth. He felt it was bad enough that the Khulinin had come without warning, stampeding through his camp with their sorceress in tow, and now they wouldn't even tel him about their journey.

"By the way,” Athlone broke in pleasantly, "we still need a few supplies. Trail food. A new water bag. Grain. Some leather to repair our tack."

"To go hunting,” Caurus said sarcastically.

Wer-tain Gringold suddenly slammed his eating knife on the table. "Lord, I wouldn't give them a used horseshoe."

"We don't need horseshoes,” said Bregan as reasonably as he could manage.

The wer-tain turned to the Khulinin beside him and studied Bregan for a moment until a flicker of recognition lit in his narrow eyes. He curled his lip. "It's a good thing your chief is only going hunting.

With you as a guard, he's going to need better luck than his father."

"Bregan!" Athlone's voice cut like a whip across the silence and stopped the warrior in mid-lunge.

The wer-tain chuckled as Bregan forced himself to sit down again.

"Now," Lord Athlone said to Caurus, "about those supplies."

Caurus scowled. "We have little to spare. This has been a bad winter."

Khan'di looked amazed. "A bad winter? We didn't know. I'd heard you had a prosperous summer last year, since you weren't involved in that unpleasantness with Lord Medb. Besides, the weather has been quite mild this season."

Athlone raised his hand to forestall the Reidhar chief’s angry retort. "Caurus, look. We need those supplies badly. I cannot tell you exactly why or where we're going because your treld is too close to the caravan road. Word can spread fast, and we need the element of surprise. Just know our mission is very important. If we had not needed new horses so badly, I wouldn't have bothered you."

Caurus's anger subsided a little, and he shifted his heavy frame in the chair. For the first time he looked directly at Gabria and asked, "And what of the sorceress? Is she a part of your important mission?"

Gabria had been quiet during the meal, trying to stay out of the conversation and not exacerbate the raw emotions in