The Traitor and the Chalice by Jane Fletcher

Author:Jane Fletcher [Fletcher, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Lesbian, Romance, Suspense
ISBN: 9781933110431
Google: cWSwPAAACAAJ
Amazon: 1933110430
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2006-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Tevi hopped back into her saddle and looked up and down the road. No one else was in sight. "It doesn't seem very well used."

"Too late in the year. We'll be all right as long as we don't hang about, but this isn't the season that most people choose to set out."

The truth of Jemeryl's words was self-evident. Autumn was well advanced, with shortening days. They woke most mornings to glistening frost on the long grass, making it crunch underfoot. Probably little more than a month of safe travel remained before the harsh northern winter swept over the plains.

Over the following days, they met only one caravan hastening back to Tirakhalod after its summer trade cycle. They overtook no one going in the same direction as themselves. The few villages they passed were merely huddles of temporary shelters for the nomadic plainsmen.

The interaction of the three women improved. Levannue seemed resigned to accepting her capture with as much grace as possible, although she sometimes gave way to bitterness and was best left alone, fidgeting irritably with the collar. Her relationship with Tevi could never be called warm, but with Jemeryl, mutual regard lightened at times into camaraderie. Lorimal's spell continued to work, and Levannue became gradually but unmistakably more youthful. Tevi guessed that by the time they reached Lyremouth, they would all look about the same age.

The landscape changed. The plains gave way to undulating slopes. To the south, the high Barrodens marched into view. Vegetation became more profuse: first stubby bushes, followed by isolated trees and then clumps of thicket. By the twelfth day from Uzhenek, they were riding through what might pass as woodland. Still the road continued its remorseless advance over the folded ridges and off into the distance, although now trees encroached, narrowing the highway. Roots ploughed through old paving, littering the ground with rubble.

The unbending road held a hypnotic quality, so Tevi received a jolt when she saw the road ahead turn sharply aside. She reined in her horse at the bend. Despite a thick covering of bramble, it was possible to pick out the original line of the road on its old, unwavering course. The new route curved over the hillside, its camber lurching up and down with the contours.

"Do we leave the old road? I thought you said it went all the way to Denbury."

"It's just a detour. We'll join up with the road again soon," Jemeryl answered.

"Why? You're not going to tell me this is a shortcut."

"No. There's an obstruction in the way."

"Can't it be moved?"

"No one's found the courage to try. It's the town of Graka, or by now the ruins of it." Jemeryl guided her horse onto the new track. "Ghouls have taken it. Lots of them, which is unusual. Normally you don't get more than one or two. Graka is notorious. It's the result of a sorcerer's experiment that went very seriously wrong."

"What are ghouls?"

"No one knows for sure. It's hard to get close enough to study them." Jemeryl paused.

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