The Complete Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Author:Melina Marchetta
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760141509
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2015-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Six weeks after Froi arrived in the capital to kill the King of Charyn, he crossed the bridge that would mark his journey home to Lumatere. Turning back to look just once, the Citavita seemed ghostly in this morning mist, half-concealing the strange cluster of rocks with their secret worlds beneath. He couldn’t help but think what would happen to Perabo and all the cave dwellers who had intrigued Quintana that day they spent together. Or those in the castle who were too unimportant to be counted on the death list. Did the cook and the servants and the farriers survive? Did the street lords take their bloody revenge on the soothsayer, aligned to the King for so long? How long would the soulless cutthroats control the lives of all those innocent people? He had heard news that one of the street lords had run off with the ransom of three hundred pieces of gold and the ruby ring, leaving his companions with not a penny. Froi had learnt early in life that there was no honour amongst thieves and, judging from the thirst for blood of those who had murdered the palace dwellers, he could only imagine the fate of the traitorous thief when his former companions caught up with him.

Before Froi on the bridge were the last of those who had decided to leave the capital, including Gargarin and Arjuro. Arjuro kept a distance between himself and his brother, and Froi easily caught up with the Priestling.

‘Where will you go?’ he asked Arjuro quietly. Gargarin had made it abundantly clear that he was going to join De Lancey in Paladozza and that Arjuro and Froi were not invited.

‘Osteria is said to be beautiful at this time of the year.’

Froi knew the Priestling was lying.

The bridge ended and the crowd travelled north on the road that ran alongside the edge of the gravina. Most of the day the people were silent, and Froi knew their bodies were hunched under the weight of knowing that they were leaving their home and had nowhere to go. He couldn’t help turning to look back, time and time again, until the rock of the Citavita was a blur.

They reached the three roads that crossed in Upper Charyn, and most took the path east to Sebastabol or Paladozza. A handful continued on the road north that would lead them to the provinces of Jidia or Desantos. Froi’s path was back down the wall of the gravina to collect his weapons.

When the last of the Citavitans had disappeared, Froi still waited with Gargarin and Arjuro. Perhaps a part of him was waiting for something more.

But Gargarin’s stare was cold. ‘You deserve all the calamities of this world and the next if you ever return to this cesspit of a kingdom,’ he said, before leaving in the direction of the crowd and not looking back once.

‘Thank you for your time,’ Froi shouted after him. ‘It’s put to rest some idiotic romantic notions!’

Gargarin didn’t stop, nor did he turn around.

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