Arms-Commander by L. E. Modesitt Jr

Author:L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Epic, Fantasy, General, order as published, Fiction
ISBN: 9780765363534
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2011-02-28T23:00:00+00:00

Book of Ayrlyn

Section I

[Restricted Text]

XLIII

Another long day’s ride brought Saryn and the regent’s party back into the palace courtyard just before sunset on oneday eve ning. As Saryn rode slowly toward the second barracks and the rear stables, she straightened in the saddle. Ahead were Westwind guards, standing in formation at attention, with Hryessa at one end.

“Present arms!”

Blades flashed into position, but something about the entire scene nagged at Saryn for a moment— until she looked more closely. There were three full squads of guards. Had Ryba sent two more squads? But as she rode closer, she could see the last squads consisted of unfamiliar faces, and some were very young. Had that many recruits come to Hryessa?

Saryn just hoped that the recruiting had been voluntary— very voluntary.

Even so, Saryn drew and raised a blade in response and led fourth squad past the arrayed guards to the stable. There, she had Klarisa dismiss fourth squad to unsaddling and grooming before she dismounted to meet Hryessa.

“Welcome back, Commander,” said the guard captain, with a grin.

“I see you have a few recruits,” Saryn said, smiling back.

“Yes, ser . . . and that is not all. There is almost another squad, but they are not well trained enough to join in a formal drill yet. We do not have enough mounts for all, either. Or blades, but Daryn has the old armorer’s forge, and he is working on that.” 039-41819_ch01_4P.qxp 10/26/09 10:46 PM Page 322

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“Captain,” said Saryn, torn between laughing and being appalled, “if you would explain?”

“Within a day of when you left, some of the girls who had been pressed into being harlots came to Shalya. They asked if they could become guards. As squad leader, Shalya came to me.” Hryessa shrugged.

“From what I have seen, the Lornians do not care much for what happens to women without coins, and we will be able to use them. So I followed your instructions.”

“And?” prompted Saryn.

“We have over forty in training. I saw we would not have blades enough. I know the Marshal would not have food enough for so many in the winter to come. So I sent four guards with a message to the Marshal asking for what blades she could spare. She sent back the four guards, and ten more who volunteered, with a wagon. There were but ten more short swords, besides those carried by the new guards, but the wagon held many worthless or broken blades, and Daryn and some of his tools. The Marshal sent me a letter saying that sending Daryn would be best . . . because he was a man and would work harder for me at forging the blades we needed.”

“Daryn’s here? What about your children?”

“They came, too. No one minds. Oh . . . and she sent you a letter also.” From her tunic, Hryessa withdrew a sealed envelope and handed it to Saryn.

Much as she would have preferred

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