Valdemar 10: Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Epic, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780886779894
Google: 77DXREP1bv0C
Amazon: 0886779898
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2000-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

As they turned off the road and took the path leading to the farm, someone came out of the house and spotted them. Waving wildly until they waved back, the figure jumped up and down, then turned back and ran into the house. A moment later, more figures poured out of the house, until there were a good dozen waving at them and shouting greetings.

Tuck and Dacerie launched into a gallop; Lan and Kalira continued at a more sedate pace. When Tuck reached his family, he spilled out of the saddle and into their arms for a hearty exchange of embraces and back slapping. Lan grinned, although he couldn’t even imagine his own family indulging in such antics.

By the time he and Kalira reached the group, most of the greeting was over. He dismounted with a bit more dignity and took the hand that Tuck’s mother extended to him.

“I can’t begin to thank you for this hospitality, Mistress Chester,” he began, when the rosy-cheeked woman waved his thanks aside, and clasped his hand in both of hers.

“Call me Ma, youngling,” she insisted. “Or Ma Chester, if you’d druther. No formal nonsense amongst friends in holiday, I always say.”

Ma Chester’s ginger-colored hair and sparkling green eyes were the duplicate of her son’s, and although her figure was ample enough, she was by no means the roly-poly dumpling that farm wives were portrayed as in city stories. She worked hard, and she was as sturdy and well-muscled as any of her sons.

“Well, you still have my thanks, Ma Chester,” he replied, grinning. “And I promised Tuck I’d share his chores with him, so don’t you try and sneak him off to do them alone!”

“A promise is a promise, so I shan’t,” she agreed, smiling broadly. “Pa Chester’s a-milking, so you’ll see him soon’s you take the ladies to the barn, and about half the rest of the brood, but I’ll make you known to the flock-”

She introduced him to her four youngest children, who stared at him merrily from blue or green eyes. One boy and three girls, they were, with the youngest being the boy-Sheela, Trinny, Cassie, and Jan. The rest of the mob were servants or hired workers, whom she introduced just the same as her children. The hired workers took the morning chores, allowing the master and his children to sleep a little past dawn; in return, the master and his children took all the evening chores, permitting the hired hands to have their dinner and go home to their own families early.

With the introductions over for the moment, the crowd returned to dinner, and Lan and Tuck led their Companions into the barn.

A dusky light filled the barn; carefully shielded oil lamps placed in wrought-iron cages fastened to the great beams that supported the hayloft gave off a diffused illumination. The cattle were all in their stalls, some munching placidly on their hay, the last few being milked. A sweet odor of hay and milk filled the barn,

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