Sky of swords by Dave Duncan

Author:Dave Duncan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780380974627
Publisher: Eos
Published: 2009-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

I told you so. SIR DOG

Back up the twisted stairway she went, back to her cold, cramped, and lonely little cell. The men-at-arms thumped the door closed behind her, clattered the lock shut, and doubtless then marched away. There was no sign of Pestilence or Nightmare, but a stub of candle stood upon her chair, flickering a tiny flame in the windy darkness, and beside it an inkwell, a quill, and a single sheet of paper. Exhausted, the Queen flopped down on the pallet and huddled herself up small to stare at this wonder. The Chancellor had kept his word! She could write out her defense. She had only one page and perhaps one hour left on that candle; no doubt the paper would be removed at dawn, ready or not. She wondered whether it was Lambskin or his master who was so spiteful--whether she was being punished for slighting the grim old man or for the death of Granville. Neville might not be the master in that team, only the puppet. After so long in her solitude, she could not even guess. The lock clattered again, hinges squeaked, and she cringed, fearing it would be Pestilence and Nightmare coming to carry out the Chancellor's threat to hand her over to "the men." They had not specified whether they meant the Bastion's professional torturers or miscellaneous ruffians. She had gambled that their intimidation was only bluff. They would gain nothing by maltreating her now. All the same she was relieved when a single man-at-arms entered and closed the door quietly behind him. He seemed no threat so she ignored him. After three days she still did not know what the trial had signified. That brief intervention by Mister Speaker--may the spirits favor him forever! --suggested that Parliament was not totally under the Usurper's heel yet. Alas, the powers of the crown in dealing with treason were almost unlimited. More than likely the inquiry would wind up its parody hearings tomorrow ... approve a report the day after ... allow one day for each house to debate. ... Probably they would move right after that, before foreign governments could lodge protests. "Five days!" she told Winter. "In five more days they'll come for me and cut off my head!" "Over my dead body," Dog said. She hit the far door with a bruising crash and turned around to scream at the apparition--not madness! Not that! She was not going to go crazy like her mother-- He caught her in his arms and ended the scream before it properly got started. He had sounded like Dog. His kiss tasted like Dog's. He hugged like Dog. He smelled like Dog. He was much lumpier than she remembered Dog; under his peculiarly flimsy cloak he seemed to be studded with a variety of odd packages and hung about with a coil of rope--but he was Dog. Eventually they came apart one finger width. "You're all bones!" he growled. "You're all sharp edges." They kissed again.

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