A Crown Disowned by Andre Norton & Sasha Miller

Author:Andre Norton & Sasha Miller [Norton, Andre & Miller, Sasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epic, Fiction, Fantasy, General, Queens
ISBN: 9780812577600
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Published: 2002-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Royance, Gaurin, Hynnel, and Rohan made their way through the camp, the command tent their objective. Snow was beginning to fall again, Royance observed wearily—big, heavy flakes. In a matter of moments it was snowing heavily enough to make visibility uncertain at a distance of more than a few feet.

"I will speak to Harous first," Royance said, "and see if this matter can be settled without quarreling. That is my duty, as Head of the Council."

"Of course," Gaurin said. "Your head is cooler and much wiser than ours."

Hynnel and Rohan also nodded assent, though Royance could tell that they were inclined to proceed with more directness and less diplomacy than he exhibited. If only they knew, he thought. He would gladly take Harous by the throat and shake the truth out of him, if the Lord High Marshal by so much as a breath indicated that the charges against him held even a fraction of truth.

Nevertheless, he smiled, mustering all his diplomatic skills. "Time enough for hostilities, if it comes to that, young men," he said. "Ah, we have arrived."

"Is Lord Harous within?" Gaurin asked the guards outside the door.

"Yes, sir. He had his breakfast some time ago, received preliminary reports of the battle, and has not left his tent," one guard replied. He shivered a little.

"You must be cold, standing here in the open. Go and get some hot food," Royance said kindly. "I do not think anybody is going to attack our headquarters, not while we are inside. And surely not in the heavy snow." Then, when the grateful men had gone out of earshot, he added to his companions, "The fewer ears to overhear what will be said in the next little while, the better."

Gaurin and the others nodded and followed Lord Royance inside, where it was markedly warmer because of the brazier that always burned. The main room of the tent was empty.

"He has his private quarters beyond," Hynnel said. He led the way and touched a small bell hanging beside the entrance. There was no stir from inside and Hynnel made bold to open the flap.

The chamber beyond was empty, yet there was an indefinable sense that it had been vacated recently. A trace of something like perfume lingered on a breeze wafting through a rent in the far wall, bringing flakes of snow with it.

"Did something creep into the camp and attack Harous from behind?" Rohan cried, alarmed. "Some fell northern beast?"

"I think not," Gaurin replied. He examined the edges of the slash in the tent wall. "This has not been torn but cut, as with a dagger."

"But who—" Rohan scowled, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Lord Harous was taking no chances on meeting with us," he said, answering his own question.

"We must go after him," Gaurin said. "Or them. I see two sets of footprints leading from the tent. Human footprints."

"We must go quickly," Hynnel added, "or risk losing them altogether."

"Yes." Gaurin looked from Hynnel to Rohan, both his kinsmen, one by blood and one by marriage.

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