Sons of the Falcon by Court Ellyn

Author:Court Ellyn [Ellyn, Court]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raven Eye Press
Published: 2013-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

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17

The Assembly was one month away and supplies rolled in. Kelyn stood in the drizzle supervising the unloading of the wagons, while Madam Yris peered into each barrel and ticked items off her list. Though Kelyn’s people provided most of the food and extra staff, the finer things had to be sent for. Crates of Doreli wine arrived from the ports at Brimlad. Fruit came all the way from southern Mahkah, a land of endless summer. Fish and porpoise and oysters were delivered on ice from Westport; those weren’t scheduled to arrive until the day or two before the Assembly convened, but sometimes they came too late. “Have the bedclothes gotten here yet?” The royal family slept on new silk sheets every year; those had yet to arrive from Vonmora.

“There’s plenty of time, m’ lord,” Yris said.

“Where’s my daughter?” Kelyn shot a nasty glare up at the keep’s windows. “She should be down here observing all this.” His own father hadn’t wanted his rowdy boys anywhere near the preparations. How Lord Keth had hated hosting the Assembly and all the trouble that went with it. All Kelyn had to do was show up, look dashing, and refrain from pursuing the cadre of handmaids. It wasn’t until after the war ended that he had the opportunity to host the Assembly himself and appreciate the reason for Father’s ill temper.

A voice hailed him from the gatehouse. Another wagon rolled into the courtyard. Eliad himself held the traces and raised a hand to wave. Two other wagons followed him in, stuffed with forlorn-looking sheep.

“You’re a delivery man now?” Kelyn asked peering into the back of Eliad’s wagon. Cured elk meat wrapped in wax paper filled half a dozen crates. Three times the size of the contribution Eliad owed his liege lord, and all because of the Assembly.

He leapt down from the wagon. “Ach, there are times when it’s a grave mistake having two women in the house. A man must flee.”

“You have my full sympathy,” Kelyn said.

“How can you possibly understand? You have only one wife and she’s gone half the year.”

Kelyn replied with raised eyebrows. “I will pray to the Mother-Father that one day your house is full of daughters.” Even as he directed the drivers to take the sheep to the paddocks, Carah emerged from the keep, puffed up and gritting her teeth like a prize fighter.

She found Kelyn among the wagons and workmen and marched straight toward him. “How in all hells did you grow up with him without killing him?”

Kelyn laughed and wrapped an arm around her. “You make my heart soar.”

That placated her anger somewhat.

“Did he kick you out again?”

She sighed. “No. I held my temper, but just barely. He had mercy and dismissed me for the afternoon. Put me to work, Da. Something I can do, or I shall despair.”

Kelyn turned his head to hide his grin. “Go help Yris. Gently.”

She huffed past Eliad, casting him a scathing sideward glare. Kelyn leaned close to him and whispered, “There’s no escaping them.

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