The Gold Warrior by Clare London

Author:Clare London [London, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2012-09-28T06:08:45+00:00

118 | Clare London

Eila put a hand on my thigh as she sat down on the bench beside me. I knew she was provoking me, for that was her way. It kept me uncertain of how things were – and perhaps she knew that. I’d often catch her watching me, and Takk too, when he was in the Place, though at the moment he was always away on the raids. Eila seemed to have been left in charge of the camp… and me. I never knew whether she expected me to be the frightened prisoner or the aggressive Warrior.

Did she hate me? Fear me? To feel her sitting so close to me today was unusual. She must have known that I could overpower her now; the manual labor had succeeded in developing many muscles that had been dormant in me. But what could I do if I attacked her and tried to escape? I still bore the shackles, and we were still high in the hills.

And I wouldn’t leave Dax here alone.

“You’re right, soldier,” she hissed softly. “You’re entirely at my disposal. And you know we argue over it, don’t you? Takk and I, over what to do with you.”

“Let me go then,” I said swiftly. “Both of us. You’ll get nothing from me. I won’t betray my City or my Mistress.”

“Nor your Queen?”

“No,” I replied, startled. “Nor my Queen.”

Her face flushed with something dark and furious, and I think she wanted to strike me. “Have you ever seen her, Maen? Your Queen?”

“Once. I was a new Silver Captain when the Battle for Queenship was held in the Arena. She was magnificent – she held all of the contenders at bay! Her men were intractable; her strategy reckless, but imaginative–”

Eila made a sound of anguish, interrupting me. “She must have used Magic, Maen! Her men fought madly, with suicidal zeal! There’s no other plausible explanation for it, except that she drew on spells and tricks from the time of Colonization – that they protected her from her sisters’ attacks, and inspired her own troops. Many men died that day –

far more than was usual, even in a battle like that. She defiled the event, for she conquered her opponents unfairly! It is a tournament, Maen, or meant to be - not a bloody war.”

“I suppose that may have been so… but she was a marvel to behold.”

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