(eng) Martha Wells by Wheel of the Infinite

Author:Wheel of the Infinite [Infinite, Wheel of the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

The guards took Rian back toward the gate of Kushor-An, down the causeway of giant guardians. His first thought was that they were going back to the Lady Marada's house so someone could point and say, "It was him!" If she had used her magics to see who the intruder had been, there was nothing he could do about it. But they passed the way that led to Marada's house and continued up the broad avenue toward the Baran Dir.

The guards didn't know quite what to make of him. They had expected him to put up a struggle, so he had gone quietly. He had heard the man who had confronted him called Lord Karuda by the others, so he knew he was correct in his initial assessment. It was mildly annoying that they had found all his knives; Karuda himself still carried the siri. Like a trophy. Careful, Kushorit lord; trophies like that come with high prices.

As they walked, Rian saw Karuda half-draw the siri, examining the bare hilt and the ring, rubbing his thumb over the places where the figured gold had been removed. Rian eyed him warily. He suspected Karuda was too sharp for his liking. As they neared the great gate, the noble raised his hand, stopping them under a large brass lamp hanging from the harness of one of the giant elephant guardians. He stepped closer to Rian, looking him over thoughtfully, then said, "You're a kjardin. Which lord do you belong to?"

He had the pronunciation as right as his Kushorit accent would allow. Rian rapidly weighed the merits of claiming Riverwait or Markand and decided on neither. "No one. Not anymore." Let Karuda think he was a thief, an outcast, anything. Just don’t let him think it would be a good idea to send me back. It hadn't occurred to him until now that that could be a possibility. I'm not going back to the barrow. Not alive.

Karuda's brow lifted skeptically. If he knew enough to look at the remains of the caste marks in Rian's ear and use a word which didn't have an equivalent in Kushorit, then he knew how unlikely it was that a kjardin had been allowed to leave his Hold without catastrophe or scandal. Karuda asked, "The High Lord?"

Relief at the wildness of this guess made Rian look honestly puzzled. "No. I was from Sorde." That was a small Hold even closer to the mountains than Riverwait and surely Karuda wouldn't know it.

"I went to the Sintane once with the Kushorit ambassador," Karuda said, eyeing him deliberately. "Kjardin don't leave their Holds."

Rian could have given him half a dozen ready lies, but Karuda would know them for it immediately. He said only, "This one did."

Frowning, Karuda only looked at the siri again, sheathed it, and moved on.

The dawn light was beginning to illuminate the Baran Dir, the faces that surmounted its many towers gazing in massive beneficence over the smaller temples and the sprawl of wealthy homes and gardens that grew up just outside its moat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.