Uprising by Fletcher DeLancey

Author:Fletcher DeLancey [DeLancey, Fletcher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912684045
Publisher: Heartsome Publishing
Published: 2019-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

36

Unexpected guest

“Bondlancer Opah, I’m sorry to disturb you.” It was Guard Demerah, standing at the top of the back steps. Salomen hadn’t heard her approach, so lost in thought was she.

“Yes?”

“You have a guest arriving by transport. Lancer Tal already cleared it. She, er, she said the guest’s identity should be a surprise. But if you want to know . . .”

The implication was clear. Demerah was not sworn to Andira, but orders from the Lancer did carry weight. She was trying to juggle her loyalties, and Salomen’s first thought was to demand the guest’s name and settle the issue that way. But that would put Demerah in the difficult position of having gone against Andira’s orders.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I’ll wait for the surprise.”

Demerah thumped a fist to her chest and made her way back down the steps.

Salomen had been out on the back deck for a hantick, steadily working her way through a bottle of her father’s good spirits. She normally went into the fields when she was home, but both Shikal and Nikin had forbidden it when they gathered in the dining room for midmeal.

“Remember, we promoted Jeshen to pick up what you couldn’t do,” Nikin had said, waving a fork at her. “If you keep running out there, you’re going to give him a complex.”

“Jeshen is prone to complexes,” Shikal agreed.

That was utter dokshin. Jeshen was one of the most unflappable men in the district, a fact she pointed out to them with absolutely no effect.

Defeated, she had come out here and dragged one of the chairs to the edge of the deck. With her feet up on the bottom railing—now in sandals; she had changed out of her formal clothing before midmeal—she gazed at the Snowmount Range and sipped the dark blue spirits. In her lap were her mother’s gloves, a gift she could not stop touching.

She had tried them on after her father left the kitchen. They fit perfectly.

The sky overhead was a faultless blue, but up near the Snowmounts, clouds were gathering and building rapidly into the towering columns that meant one of two things: thunderstorms or a summer windstorm. She hoped it was the former, but had a feeling it might be the latter.

Heat made the air hazy and brought with it the heady scent of cut grainstems; their western neighbors were harvesting today. Salomen bet they were eyeing these clouds and swearing themselves purple.

A new sound rose over the drone of insects, signifying a transport approaching from the east. With a sudden unreasoning irritation, she refused to look until it slowed to a hover. Only then did she turn her head to see who Andira had sent out.

The black-and-silver transport was a familiar model. Andira had one like it, as did all the caste Primes. It was an armored four-seater designed for security and comfort, and Salomen had no idea who was flying it. She stood up, set her drink and gloves on the top rail, and walked over to the steps as the transport settled on the ground.

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