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

banishment---months that now seemed brief indeed. To al intents and purposes she was still an apprentice. Yet everyone expected her to face a sorcerer who was better prepared and had the Book of Matrah.

She shot a look at Athlone and Sayyed on the trail ahead of her. It was too bad she did not feel ready to teach them the rudiments of sorcery. Athlone had the strength to wield his talent well. Gabria did not know about Sayyed's natural abilities, but if his determination and personality were any indication, he could be as powerful a sorcerer as Athlone. If only she felt capable enough to teach them!

Her thoughts were still on sorcery and the future when the party crossed over a high, craggy ridge into the kingdom of Calah and looked down on the valley of a broad river.

"There is Pra Desh,” Khan'di told his companions, pointing down the val ey to the south. The city was still leagues away, but from their vantage point, the travelers could make out the high towers, the white walls, and the vast harbor of the huge city.

The river in the val ey, the Serentine, flowed from the forests far to the northwest. It ran east across the northern plains, past Amnok Treld, Bahedin Treld, and three of the Five Kingdoms, gaining substance and changing from a tumbling stream to a wide, majestic river. At the end of its long journey, the Serentine swept past the feet of the Redstone Hil s and into the finest natural harbor in the Sea of Tannis.

Here, at this propitious meeting of river, land, and sea, the people of Calah built their capital and nourished it into the richest and most powerful maritime city on the Tannis. Their fleet control ed the northern and western coasts and roved the sea to its farthest reaches. The merchants of Pra Desh traded everything in the known world from raw materials such as grain, timber, and ore to livestock, slaves, and finely wrought crafts. They shipped silk, wool, and cotton, jewelry, spices, wines, pottery, weapons, and carpets. They brought anything that could be bought to the marketplaces of Pra Desh and filled their coffers with the gold coins of many realms.

After a moment, Khan'di pointed to the right, and the travelers saw where their path wound down out of the hills to the valley and joined the caravan route as it paralleled the river to the city. They rode on to the last heavily wooded hil before the path dipped down to the open farmlands. There, Khan'di led the party into the shadows of the trees.

He turned his horse around and addressed the others. "Pra Desh is only three leagues away, and I want to get you into the city unnoticed. The Fon's spies are on every street of Pra Desh and at every gate. They have orders to report anything unusual."

Gabria sadly ran her hand down Nara's neck. She knew what she was about to say would be painful, but she had thought about it for days and there was no other way to maintain the party's anonymity.

"We wil have to leave the Hunnuli," she said quietly.

Khan'di bowed his head to her in mixed respect and relief. "Lady Gabria, you have saved me the pain of asking that favor. Unfortunately, there are no other Hunnuli in my country, and as far as anyone knows the only one in the clans belongs to the great Corin sorceress. You would not be safe for long on the streets of Pra Desh."

The young woman nodded unhappily. Although she had made the suggestion, the thought of leaving Nara behind made her very uncomfortable. "Do you mind?" she asked the black mare.

Of course I do, Nara answered. Leaving you goes against everything I am. But you are right. It must be done.

If you real y need us, we wil come, Eurus added.

"Thank you,” Gabria replied.

"All right,” Khan'di said. "Listen. We wil separate here. I should not be seen with clansmen. It might also be best if you split up and enter the city in smal groups." He dismounted, found a stick, and drew a detailed map in the ditto

"This is the Serentine River,” he explained to his listeners, pointing to the relevant marks with his stick. "This is the harbor; this, the Redstone Hil s. Here is the old city wal on the west side of the river. It extends around the Fon's palace here on Second Hil , the temple of Elaja on First Hill, and the older residential districts, warehouses, and merchant offices. This is the arsenal where the Fon's guards live and the weaponry is stored.

"The city, of course, has long outgrown these walls, and you will find the markets, the auction houses, and the shipwrights' yards here, here, and here." He pointed to each spot on his map. "The rest of the city spreads out this way to the north along the river and up the slopes of the hil s. The land to the east is swampy and often floods. Only the poorer peasants, criminals, and runaway slaves live there. Do you understand so far?"

The fascinated clanspeople nodded in unison.

"Good. Now, there is a row of warehouses here in the old city. Follow this caravan road through the gate called the Sun Door. If you look for the tall buildings with the different colored flags on their towers, you will find the warehouses. Go to the fifth one in the row. It is a wool house and will be flying an orange flag. There is a wooden sheep hanging above the doors. Go there and wait for me. Do not wander around. Do not ask questions."

"What wil you be doing?" Athlone demanded.

"Seeking information." Khan'di's heavy face broke into a scheming grin. "I have spies on every street, too."

"Whose warehouse is it?" Piers asked coldly.

"My