Raven's Quest by Anya Bast

Author:Anya Bast
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

THAT NIGHT THEY RENTED ROOMS AT AN INN. IN THE morning, Lucan procured a table in the corner of the inn’s common room and ordered some hard bread, cheese, and watered-down ale.

The Messenger was not one of Kastum’s finest inns. Even in the morning light, the acrid smoke from the cook fire filled the room, burning Lucan’s nostrils and fouling the air. Candles made from animal fat sputtered on the tables and cast a wan light in the dark room. The inn’s primary attraction was that it was a place one could go unnoticed. Anonymity was valuable.

Lucan watched Branna descend the stairs from her room. Yesterday, they’d bought her a new gown, colored a light green that matched her eyes and with long sleeves to guard her from the chill. She’d caught her silken hair up in a twist on the back of her head.

He’d meant what he’d said to her the night before last. She did distract him. He did want her ... and he did worry for her life.

Solan, she was a headstrong woman. But Lucan knew well how different things were in Tir na Ban, where the women held the strongest of the magic and, therefore, the power, and the men were the brawn that protected them.

She inched her way past the inn’s rowdy and disgustingly fragrant occupants on the way to the breakfast table. A sailor leaned forward and caught her by the waist as she passed, pulling her toward him.

Lucan stood, his hand on the hilt of the long knife he wore at his waist. But Branna freed herself by stamping the heel of her boot solidly on the man’s instep. The sailor exclaimed loudly in pain and released her.

Lucan smiled and sat back down.

“I think these men have been away too long from society and forgotten their manners,” Branna said primly in her accented Numian as she approached the table and sat down.

“I think it’s beautiful women they’ve been away from for too long,” Lucan replied and smiled as Branna colored.

“Well, whatever it is, I’ll be happy to be quit of this place.” She pushed her plate away, shuddering. “These men have been far too long away from mouth paste as well. That one’s breath smelled like dead socabeast.”

Lucan pushed the plate back to her. “You must eat.”

Branna eyed the piece of bread for a moment before she picked it up and gnawed. “So what are the plans?”

Lucan sighed. “Well, some of us will take the place of some of the guards and officials. Then some of us will push our way in to take Magnus. While that is going on, some of us will be fighting the Valorian stationed around Kastum.” He was deliberately vague.

Branna raised an eyebrow. “Sounds very involved.”

“Now don’t be sarcastic. Everyone knows what they have to do. Everyone simply needs to do it correctly and on time.”

“And in which ‘some of us’ do you fall?”

“The one that goes in to take Magnus.”

“Of course.”

“I have another identity. His name is Marius Flavius Ammon.

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