The Fall of Neskaya by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Author:Marion Zimmer Bradley [Bradley, Marion Zimmer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Epic, Darkover (Imaginary Place), Usernet, C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780756400538
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2001-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

23

For the last three days of the journey to the Hidden City near Arilinn, where the Comyn Council held its gathering, dry lightning ran jagged across the summer sky. Taniquel’s skin prickled with restless, pent-up energy. Even Lady Caitlin, who rode with King Rafael’s entourage as leronis and chaperone, slept badly, ate little, and began sentences which trailed off distractedly.

Taniquel’s appetite had fallen off as her milk dried up, but even now her empty breasts ached, and at night she found herself reaching for Julian. More than once, she had buried her face in a pillow to keep from crying out. No one had forced her to leave him behind with a wet nurse. She, more than anyone, knew how dangerous it was to bring him anywhere near Deslucido’s reach. When she had first heard of the summons to Comyn Council, she had burst into her uncle’s chambers, where he sat over a light summer dinner.

Her uncle had fixed her with the same blend of mildness and tolerance as he once used after the worst of her childhood pranks. “We would be obliged to attend in any event,” he pointed out, “or send some suitably important representative. I am, after all, Hastur of Hastur.” He bent to his chilled cherry soup.

There would be other legitimate Council business, though Taniquel was not sure what that might be. In all her years in Thendara and then Acosta, she’d had nothing to do with the Council, being neither an heir nor possessed of any laran worthy of their attention. Their seasonal gatherings came and went without any special awareness on her part.

“This may be our best hope for a peaceful resolution,” Rafael said. “Deslucido may think he can use the Council for his own purposes, but in the end it is they who will rule him. Just as the wild dog creeps to the campfire, thinking only of warmth and a full belly, so Deslucido cannot enter into the world of the Comyn without bending to their will.”

You do not know Deslucido. Taniquel lowered her eyes and kept still.

Once she would have looked upon an entry into the Council meetings as an adventure, but now, as the towers of Arilinn and the Hidden City drew ever closer, her head ached with the relentless pressure she recognized from the day Acosta was attacked. As a warning, it was useless, for she already knew that danger and, most likely, treachery lay ahead.

As she rode along, having stubbornly refused to share the carriage with Lady Caitlin, she dropped the reins on her horse’s neck and pressed both hands to her temples, massaging the tight muscles. One of the guards must have seen her for a few minutes afterward, a halt was signaled and she was summoned to her uncle. He asked if she were unwell and she realized how easy it would be to delay their arrival for a few hours’ respite. But she shook her head and said she would rest once they were settled within the city.

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