Stars and a Wind- The Complete Trilogy by Barbara Gaskell Denvil

Author:Barbara Gaskell Denvil [Denvil, Barbara Gaskell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epic Norse Fantasy Boxset
Publisher: Gaskell Publishing
Published: 2017-12-27T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Knowing nothing of council, of court, or of the Althing here, she had waited so long for company, she had almost surrendered. Something, she knew, must be happening with Orm and Mandegga but no one came to tell her of it. As if her part was played and she had no right to be concerned for any other development. The human outcast, the insignificant, and the irrelevant nuisance. The temptation had been to call on him in her mind, even to pretend that the call was spontaneous, as though she had need but did not deliberately intend to interrupt him. Then she had probably done that already without realising.

And then Thoddun came to get her. She was on the bed, watching the spangled water. Thoddun came over and sat facing her. “Troubled?”

It seemed pointless to lie when he could crawl into her head and had probably already done so. “Just a little self-pity.”

He smiled. “Justified, perhaps. It seems the court wants you present, after all. Shall I refuse them?”

She was startled, almost pleased and almost frightened. “No. I’ll come. But why?”

He took her hand, turning it over against his palm. In comparison, it seemed very small. “A multitude of reasons,” he said. “Some are complicated and I won’t intimidate you with them. But my own personal reason is simple and relevant. I like to keep the law. If I obstructed every legal right, there’d be no point in upholding the Althing. And I won’t live forever. A transanima community without law would descend immediately into bloody vendetta.”

“Mandegga wants to challenge me, doesn’t she?” said Skarga.

“You need remember only this,” Thoddun said. “I shall not allow anyone to fight you, for any reason or under any circumstances. As far as I’m concerned, you can answer the court in any way you like. If you feel like brazening it out, you can offer your own challenge. Say anything you wish. This castle is ultimately under my control, and I will not let them attack you, fight you or injure you. Is that clear?”

“Yes it is,” she said. “Very clear. You mean I’ll be threatened.”

He frowned. His hold on her hand tightened so vehemently that it hurt her. She looked up at him in surprise. “Remember this too,” he said. “Whatever I personally say to the court about you isn’t necessarily true, nor necessarily represents what I actually intend to do. Is that also absolutely clear?”

Skarga blinked in some surprise. “Yes. It’s clear. But don’t the other transanima read your thoughts, like you read mine?”

“As I’ve told you, we learn to shroud them. A fourfold, no one reads my thoughts unless I wish it. And if I wish it, those thoughts are apt to mislead. What I say to the court is also designed to mislead. But there will be sufficient truth in what I say to confuse the issue further. I am not an inexperienced liar.”

“Well,” she said, “I understand I can show off and say what I like, though I doubt if I will, and for some reason not entirely clear, you’ll protect me.

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