Shadows of the Realm (The Circle of Talia) by Lister Dionne

Author:Lister, Dionne [Lister, Dionne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

17

Avruellen and the girls had been travelling for nine days after leaving Bayerlon. As they rode up to the northern gates of Pollona, Avruellen still sensed they were being watched, but from afar. The urgency she felt on leaving Bayerlon had abated, slightly. As they had travelled they had developed a routine to setting up and dismantling their camp. Everyone had done her share of the chores, and other than the ongoing friction with Corrille, nothing monumental had occurred. Bronwyn and her friend had obeyed her and had managed not to cause too much trouble. The only argument the girls had, occurred at one of the inns along the way. There had been a group of young men enjoying an ale after work, and the most handsome of them had taken a liking to Bronwyn. Avruellen had allowed the girls to chat with the boys; she had no wish for them not to enjoy their youth, and as they were leaving in the morning, nothing much could come of it.

Corrille, unfortunately, was the jealous type who required everyone’s constant attention. Avruellen assumed it was because of her low self-esteem, but whatever the reason, the outcome was the same. If she wasn’t getting the bulk of attention, she became argumentative and bullied Bronwyn into the background. Bronwyn wasn’t fond of confrontation, so put up with the ill treatment. Unusually, the young man could see through Corrille’s tactics—men were not always that clever when it came to women. He insisted on paying attention to Bronwyn instead, which only inflamed Corrille.

When they had left the boys, and gone up to their room, Corrille verbally attacked Bronwyn, accusing her of being a selfish, egotistical cow. Bronwyn hadn’t bothered to defend herself, as she felt sorry for her friend and had an idea why she was upset. Corrille, in her feisty mood, had continued insulting her until she had provoked a reaction. Both girls ended up saying things they regretted.

Avruellen could see Corrille constantly competed with her niece. It was true that Corrille had been badly abused, but that excuse would only go so far with Avruellen. There would come a point where she would have to pull the young lady into line before she caused real trouble. Since the latest incident, Avruellen had tried to keep the girls from situations where there was potential for Corrille to show her worst side. She had been successful so far, however they were entering their destination.

Pollona was a smallish city, with thousands of inhabitants. Being on the border of Veresia and Wyrden, it provided a meeting place for many. The city lay lazily on two large hills, a wide valley in between. From a distance it appeared to be two large dragons sleeping next to each other, noses facing to the north. Gates opened up to both ends of the valley and watchtowers perched on the tops of both hills. High stone walls traced the ridges at the top of either hill, like protruding spines of dragons, and houses spilled down one side of either dragon to face each other over the gap in between.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.