Heir of Koradin by Lisa Dunn

Author:Lisa Dunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anaiah Press

SIXTEEN

GRIT

Grit forced her gaze from the barren warrior training field, the burden of emptiness too great to face. First light had taken from Thresh Coil, Oath, Sire Stone, and all the armies but the female force. With Seal’s hand snug in hers, Grit turned her back on the empty field.

Dame Dara hurried toward her, one hand holding her drawn sword and the other resting on the bottom of her babe’s sling. Behind Dara, dames and damelings found their places on the offspring training field. A few youth, those deemed unfit for battle, sparred on the far side of the field. A sorry last line of defense, these children playing games, making sport of an enemy before whom none of them could stand. How long would Strike delay? Could Thresh’s armies stop his advance, or would the bodies of these boys rot on the fields they sparred to save? Grit willed away the images flooding her mind.

Dara nodded toward Seal. “Will you take the child with you?”

Grit tightened her hold on her sibling’s hand. “I’ve no choice but to leave her. I go to battle an enemy who has sworn to destroy her and me alike. If I thought Seal strong enough to make the journey, I’d send her to the Southern Realm. She’s safer in Thresh, on her own, than she is at my side.”

“You forget, Grit of Berth and Stone, that Thresh cannot guarantee her safety, especially now Coil has gone.” Dame Dara’s cloudy blue eyes scanned the small group of youth. Had one of her offspring been kept back? Talon had trained two, a girl and a boy, if Grit remembered correctly. She’d always struggled to keep track of Coil’s siblings.

Dame Dara turned her attention full on Grit. “There’s a secret we dames keep from the rest of you. I tell it to you now because I’m sure your dame never told you, and I may not have another opportunity. To raise offspring according to the council’s standard of a worthy dame, one must possess as much strength as the fiercest of our warriors. To raise offspring honorably requires even greater strength than that.” She spoke as though Grit’s life depended upon her revelation.

“I have scorned the scorn of those who call my offspring undesirable. I have kept the secrets of their shameful sires. I have argued, fought, schemed, and manipulated to keep both myself and my offspring from the shame of the Inner Ring. I didn’t raise Trova and Coil to adulthood by weakness, girl, but by fortitude far beyond your ken.”

Had Dara forgotten Varlet, traitorous fool born between Trova and Coil? She hadn’t spoken of him since his absence was discovered. Perhaps his betrayal stung too much.

“You question my carrying this infant to Koradin. I tell you, I’ll keep her at my heart, defending her and all of Thresh to my last breath, if necessary. In the end, you’ll see the location of one’s hut has very little to do with courage.” Dame Dara bowed her head and spoke softly.

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