One thing I still remembered from my war days was how to move in shrubbery.
Looking down the south road again, Meliara?The voice startled me. I turned and saw my oldest friend, Oria, peering in around the door tapestry. Though I was the countess and she the servant, we had gr...
In the meantime, do you have any more questions for me? His voice was uninflected, but the drawl was gone. I knew that the time for the political discussion was past, for now, and that here at last we...
Lady Meliara? There was a tap outside the door, and Oria’s mother, Julen, lifted the tapestry. Oria and I both stared in surprise at the three long sticks she carried so carefully.More Fire Sticks? I...
Did you really think you could take a few hundred ill-trained village people into war and expect anything but defeat?I opened my mouth to retort, then realized I’d be spoiling what little strategy we...
At some unseen signal the long line of guards around me stopped and their spears thudded to the floor with a noise that sounded like doom.Then a tall figure with a long black cloak walked past us, plu...
The stubborn little countess—so unlike anyone Vidanric had ever met—trampled her determined, well-meaning way not only over his plans, but his thoughts.
Our horses plunged up the trail.Go on…Go! Bran jerked one hand toward the mountains, then swayed in his saddle.Another arrow sang overhead.I won’t leave you, I snapped.Go. Our people…Carry on the figh...
Judging the actions of the many by those of the one is both human and dangerous.
It would have been funny if I had been an observer and not a participant, an idea that gave me a disconcerting insight into gossip. As I walked beside the silent Tamara, I realized that despite how en...
I turned around--and nearly bumped into a small group of soldiers in Renselaeus colors. They all stopped, bowed silently, and would have stepped out of my way, but I recognized one of them from my rid...
Then, without warning, notes from a single flute floated as if down on a breeze, and with a quick snap of wrists the dancers twitched the ropes into soaring, billowing squares of gauze.A gasp from the...
Then I went down to the upper parlor that they seemed to have adopted. I could hear random notes from the harp, a shivery pleasant sound that plucked at old and beloved memories, just as wearing the g...
So there I was, light-headed with hunger, footsore, with the perimeter of safety having closed to about ten paces around me, and the Marquis of Shevraeth standing just on the other side of the wall.At...
Please don’t think you have to change your direction for my sake, I said. I’m just out wandering about, and my steps took me past Merindar House.And lose an opportunity to engage in converse without y...
If you’re rebelling, then you must have someone in mind for the throne. Who?Bran pointed across the table at Shevraeth. He seems to want to do it, and I have to say, he’d be better at it than I.No, he...
I am trying, he said with great care, to ascertain what your place is in the events about to transpire, and to act accordingly. From whom did you get your information?The world seemed to lurch again,...
Ah, beloved, he murmured, his fingers caressing the faint lines in her brow, tracing the shadows at the sides of her lips. How beautiful you are.She couldn’t help a chortle.Inda heard the unsteadiness...
When we reached our hall, Nee offered to share hot chocolate with me. Shaking my head, I pleaded tiredness--true enough--and retreated to my rooms.And discovered something lying on the little table in...
When the guards cut me loose I fell like an old bundle of laundry onto the stone courtyard, and once again hands gripped my upper arms and yanked me upright. This time I made no pretense of walking as...