04 The Warriors Bond by Mckenna Juliet E

Author:Mckenna, Juliet E [E, Mckenna, Juliet]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T21:07:18.480000+00:00

'This I always wear,' said Temar firmly. 'Anyone who wants it is welcome to try taking it.' 'It's your coin to toss.' Mistal looked a little uncertain. 'Shall we go?' Temar nodded towards the door or window, whichever it was. 'I'm hungry.' Mistal locked his door securely and led Temar down into the street. 'Can you eat common food like sausage, Esquire?' Temar laughed. 'I have eaten whatever mercenaries can trap in the woods for the last year. Sausage would be a rare treat.' 'Smoked or plain?' Mistal spat the leaf he'd been chewing into the gutter before crossing the busy road. An old woman sat beneath a rack hung with sausages tied in circles, as wrinkled as if she'd been smoked over a long fire herself. 'Plain.' Temar accepted a plump sausage glistening with oil and bit into it cautiously, rewarded with a pungent mouthful redolent of pepper, savory and rue. 'This is what you call plain?' Mistal paid the woman before tearing a small loaf apart. 'You've got to have a few spices to liven up a sausage.' He handed Temar half the bread. 'Do you like it?' Temar nodded, mouth full. Mistal's face cleared and they both ate hungrily as they walked rapidly through the bustling city. 'This is better than wasting my time in that tedious courtroom,' Temar said with feeling. 'Enjoy your freedom while you can,' advised Mistal. 'You'll be spending long enough in the courts for the next few seasons, until those arguments are settled.' 'Me?' Temar frowned. 'Messire D'Olbriot's trials are nothing to do with me.' 'I must have misunderstood.' Mistal looked sharply at Temar. 'Rysh said you weren't stupid.' 'Then tell me what I am failing to see, Master Advocate,' retorted Temar, stung. Mistal wiped greasy hands on the front of his jerkin. 'Rysh told me about this colony of yours, said you'd been attacked from some northern islands?' 'The Elietimm.' Temar shivered with sudden revulsion. 'They'll destroy Kel Ar'Ayen given half a chance.' 'But you've wizards to hold them off, haven't you?' Mistal demanded. 'Fire and flood to scorch or drown them? That's what Ryshad was saying. Well, if you think these northern islanders are a threat, they're nothing compared to the people setting their advocates against you back there.' Mistal waved an airy hand somewhere in the direction of the courts. 'It's a different kind of danger, but it's just as real for your colony. Your little settlement can't survive without trading for the things you can't make for yourself. Without a market for your goods you won't have the coin to buy them either. If you're to expand from whatever scant land you hold, you need new blood. But you need the authority to control who comes and who settles, otherwise you'll find competing townships springing up all along your coast before the turn of the year. If that happens, Elietimm assault will be the least of your worries.' Mistal's lawyerly delivery in his casual dress struck Temar as incongruous, but his words were too serious for laughter.

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