Vows and Honor 01-03: Omnibus Edition by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Valdemar
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Published: 2018-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

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Jadrek shook his head. “This is just not to be believed—Idra pretends to go haring off after the Sword That Sings—then we just happen to stumble on it on a remote trail, and just happen to bring it with us—”

“Archivist, I hate to disagree,” Tarma interrupted, “but it’s not so much of a coincidence as you might think. Idra wanted an excuse to go north. If she’d wanted one to go south, I would bet you’d have found a different legend, but the Sword’s legend says it was stolen and taken north, so that’s the one you chose. There’s only one real road through the Comb. No thief would take that, and no fugitive—well, that left this goat-track we followed. I know it’s the closest path to the real road, and I’ll bet it’s one of the few that go all the way through. No great coincidence there. As for the coincidence of us finding the dead thief, and of Keth taking the sword—I’ll bet he was found a good dozen times, or why were the goldwork and the gems gone from the sheath and the pommel? But nobody in their right mind would bother taking a blade that wouldn’t cut butter. And we’ve been stopping in every likely sheltered spot, so it’s small wonder that we ran across him and his booty. But I would be willing to stake Ironheart that no mage ever ran across the body. Mages can sense energies, even quiescent ones; right, Keth?”

“That’s true,” Kethry corroborated. “I knew there was something about it, but I didn’t have the strength to spare to deal with it right then. So I did what most mages would do—I packed it up to look into it later, if there was a later. Besides, knowing how these mage-purposed things work, I would say that the sword might well have known where it was going. It could well have ‘told’ me to bring it here.”

“And the sword, once it sensed you were wavering on making a bid for the throne, made itself known,” Mertis concluded wryly.

“It appears,” Stefansen said ruefully, “that I don’t have any choice.”

“No more than I did, my friend,” Roald replied with a chuckle, and a smile. “No more than I did.”

But Stefansen sagged, and his face took on an expression of despair. “This is utterly hopeless, you know,” he said. “Just how am I supposed to get back the crown when my only allies are a baby, an outlander, three women, a—forgive me, Jadrek—half-crippled scholar, an outsized beast, and a sword that’s likely to betray me by glowing and singing every time I touch it?”

“I really don’t see why you’re already giving up,” Roald chided. “Thrones have been overturned with less. What do you really need for a successful rebellion?”

“For a start, you need someone who knows where each and every secret lies,” Jadrek said, sitting up straighter, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. “Someone who knows which person can be bought and what his price is, which person can be blackmailed, and who will serve out of either love or duty.

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