Days of Storm by Linda Nagata

Author:Linda Nagata [Nagata, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: noble bright, secondary world fantasy, origin myths, nature spirits, young adult, epic fantasy series
ISBN: 9781937197384
Publisher: Mythic Island Press LLC
Published: 2021-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Bennek wanted to embrace her, but Lanyon held him off at a distance. Her angry fists crumpled the fabric of his shirt as she struggled to push him away. “Why are you here?” she demanded. “Why have you come? Why?”

Bennek heard this in confusion, in consternation, but he refused to give way, holding tight to her shoulders, fearing that if he let go, she would vanish again. In their struggle they turned one about the other, like children wrestling, while Kina cavorted, barking as if it were a fine game.

“Do not struggle so, Lanyon! I came to find you. Surely you knew I was coming?”

“No!” Tears welled in her eyes. “You are supposed to be with Jahallon! Safe under his protection! This path I walk can have no good end. Bennek! I did not want you to come.”

He shook his head. “Do not be unkind to me, Lanyon, I beg you. Do not misread me. I would have stayed with you all this time if I could have. I wanted nothing more than to return to you. Don’t be angry. Please. You must forgive me.”

She grew still, but she would not let him closer. “It was my comfort to know you were with Jahallon.”

“That seems a cold comfort to me. Know that I can offer more comfort to you with my presence, than as a memory.”

Her eyes narrowed. But then a bemused smile touched her lips. “Sir, you should not speak so boldly.”

“Now you are laughing at me. What have I said?”

She sighed and shook her head. Then, to his astonishment, she gave up the fight and hugged him. Bennek forgot his puzzlement for the beauty of her coppery hair in the leaf-filtered light.

All too soon, she freed herself. And taking a step back, she studied him. “You have cut your long hair short. You look like a man of Habaddon—but you are beautiful still. Oh Bennek, you were a boy when we parted. Now you have grown so much taller than me.”

“I am a man now,” he assured her.

“I know it.” A blush rose in her cheeks, and she turned away. “How long have I been gone?”

“One year and a half. Perhaps a little longer.”

She caught a harsh breath. “So long. I was hoping it was the same year and yet . . .” She turned back to him. “You’re here, so it can’t be too late. I didn’t want to go. I was afraid I’d be gone too long. And then when I returned, the prairie was empty of arowl, and there was no sign of the Samokeäns of the Cavern—Bennek, there were people living in the north!”

“I know it.”

“There was no sign left for me by Pantheren.”

“He couldn’t leave you a sign—”

“He lives?”

“He does. We came north together to seek for you, but Édan is hunting you too, so Pantheren didn’t dare mark the place where you left the world.”

Her eyes grew haunted. “Where is Édan?”

“I don’t know. Lanyon, so many things have changed—”

Again she turned away from him.

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