Flight of the Raven by Jennifer Roberson

Author:Jennifer Roberson [Roberson, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, General, Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 9780886774226
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Published: 1990-06-19T23:00:00+00:00

Siglyn spoke for the first time since the meal. "Do you think only you are right, then, in what you believe? Because of your birth?"

Aidan sighed heavily. "My birth means nothing at all. Why do you dwell on it? In the clans only the blood matters, and its continuation, not in what flesh it flows.

Do you see? I am Cheysuli first: child of the gods. I am then a warrior, and I honor my tahlmorra

. I am a prince last of all."

"That," Tye declared, "is not possible."

Aidan, sliding into an Erinnish cadence, fixed him with a baleful eye. "I'd be venturing, my pretty lad, 'twould be far easier for me to shed my royalty than for the likes of you to gain it."

Ashra laughed, not in the least taken aback by Aidan's verbal attack on Tye. "Well file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Je...otC%207%20-%20Flight%20of%20the%

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file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Jennifer%20Roberson%20-%20CotC%207%

20-%20Flight%20of%20the%20Raven.html said!"

"Indeed," Siglyn agreed morosely.

Tye, unaffronted, merely grunted. "Most probably. But I have no wish to be a prince."

Aidan nearly laughed; his kivarna bespoke the lie. "No man never wishes he were a prince, Solindishman. Had you the chance—"

"—he would accept it instantly," Ashra finished. "And you would

, Tye."

Tye grunted again. "But it is bootless. There will be no chance for me to find out.

I am only a singer, and a poor one."

Ashra was instantly outraged. "Poor! You are the best I have ever heard!"

Tye grinned at her. "And how many have you heard?"

Color stained her cheeks. "Enough," she said softly, touching fingers to his face.

"Enough—and more—to know."

The old man tightened his robe around thin shoulders. "What magic do you claim, shapechanger?"

Aidan, considering, recalled Siglyn's trade was in magic, and fashioned his answer to suit it.

"Nothing to rival yours, old man." He smiled disarmingly. "All I claim is lir

-shape."

Siglyn grunted. "Nothing more? No more than that?"

Aidan shrugged, making light of his answer. "We can heal, when required."

Rheumy blue eyes narrowed. "And?"

Aidan put off answering by unplugging the wineskin and drinking, then carefully squeaking the cork home. "Some say there is a third gift," he admitted frankly.

"But it is only rarely used. We do not care for what it does to a man's soul."

The old man smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "And what does it do to a man's soul, that you would quail from it?"

Aidan's gaze did not waver. "It takes," he answered flatly. "It overpowers. It sucks away a man's will and leaves him with nothing at all save what the other tells him."

Siglyn's eyes shone. He grunted approval, as if vindicated. "I thought so. I've heard it said many a time the Cheysuli have he power to be demons, if they choose."

Aidan's tone was clipped. "We do not choose," he declared. "We understand too file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Je...otC%207%20-%20Flight%20of%20the%

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