Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) (82 page)

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Authors: Sharon Shinn

BOOK: Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses)
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“Yes, that’s why—”
 
 
She continued as if he hadn’t tried to speak. “And look at me now. Surrounded by friends. Married to the man I love above all others. Confidante of the king. Time for me to pass this symbol on.” She had managed to pry his fist open, and now she laid the gold necklace in his hand, though she still kept her hold on him. Ellynor could see the chain coiling against his palm, could tell that it held a simple circular charm edged with thin filigree. “My grandmother would be pleased,” she said. “She always loved
things
. She thought certain objects possessed a power of their own, and she loved to hold the items that she cherished the most. She would be glad to see this necklace passed from my hand to yours to Ellynor’s, as long as it was valued.”
 
 
“I would treasure it my whole life,” Ellynor said. “I would always wear it close to my heart.”
 
 
Now Senneth was folding Justin’s fingers over the loops of gold. He was just watching her, his eyes so wide Ellynor thought he might be trying to fight back tears. “I hate my brothers, as you know,” she said conversationally, and Justin was surprised into a laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob. “My only son died in infancy. And I scarcely know my nephews. I have not had much chance to love the men I’m related to by blood, so, Justin, don’t consider it an insult when I tell you that I truly think of you as my family. We are kin, as the Lirrenfolk say. You belong to me in ways that can’t be explained by any other tie. We are kin. I would be honored if you would take my grandmother’s necklace and give it to your bride.”
 
 
Justin stood absolutely motionless for a moment, while Ellynor held her breath and Senneth waited with her usual serenity. Then he nodded twice, jerkily, and brought his other hand up to crush Senneth’s between his. “I am honored that you’re willing to give it to me,” he said, his voice thick. He smiled with an effort and tried to say something lighthearted. “And sorry that now you will not have a pendant to cover your housemark.”
 
 
Senneth’s answering smile was wicked. “I’ll make Tayse buy me something,” she said. “I’ve decided I deserve a bride gift of my own.”
 
 
 
 
THEY left early the next morning, a surprisingly tidy and efficient group, and made good time on the road to the Lireth Mountains. Kirra seemed fully recovered, and Justin claimed he felt perfectly fit, so they pressed on past nightfall to cover an additional ten miles. The air turned bitterly cold once the sun dropped below the horizon, but the night sky was so dizzyingly beautiful that Ellynor, at least, didn’t mind. She felt the Black Mother’s presence hovering nearby, almost as distinct as another silhouette on horseback, and she silently spoke her prayers of thanks.
Great Mother, you have been so bountiful. I cannot find enough words to express my gratitude for all I have been given. . . .
 
 
They opted to make camp instead of looking for rooms for the night, and it was clear that the other six were used to sharing tasks around a fire. Ellynor was surprised at how much heat the small blaze gave off until Justin laughed and told her it was Senneth’s magic that warmed the air around them. After they ate, Justin and Tayse fenced a little while Donnal and Senneth critiqued their swordplay and the other three cleaned up.
 
 
“Better than I would have predicted,” Tayse judged when they paused to take a break. “You’re not at full strength, though.”
 
 
Justin sheathed his weapon. “But I could defend myself.”
 
 
Tayse nodded. “Let’s hope you don’t have to.”
 
 
They broke camp at dawn and continued eastward. Kirra and Donnal disappeared at the lunch break, leaving Cammon to lead their horses and Tayse to wonder out loud if they’d think to bring back game for the evening meal.
 
 
“We’ll be at the foot of the mountains by dinnertime,” Senneth said.
 
 
Tayse glanced at her, glanced at Justin, and nodded. “I know.”
 
 
He could not have said more plainly he would be sorry to see Justin go. Still, the big man did not dawdle on the trail, did not look for excuses to slow their progress and draw the trip out by another day. When the low, broken peaks of the Lireth range began to hunch up against the eastern horizon, he kept to the course, and he didn’t call a halt until the last of the sunlight had disappeared.
 
 
“This is as far as the rest of us will go,” Ellynor heard him tell Justin. “In the morning, we’ll head north toward Coravann.”
 
 
“Probably best to get an early start,” Justin said. “I’d just as soon cross the mountains in two days.”
 
 
Kirra and Donnal returned, formed like humans but carrying rabbits and squirrels and grouse that they could only have caught in animal shape. The meal was tasty and convivial, though Ellynor noticed that Kirra and Cammon and Senneth did most of the talking. Donnal was always quiet, of course, and Tayse didn’t seem like the type who ever indulged much in idle chatter. Ellynor herself was still a little too much in awe of this group to volunteer frequent observations, so she listened and nodded and spoke only when someone addressed her.
 
 
Justin was nearly silent, but Ellynor, observing him, did not think he was unhappy. He watched the others with a bright attention, laughed at Cammon, rolled his eyes at Kirra, smiled whenever Senneth spoke. He was absorbing them, she thought, storing them up, like a man taking a long last draught of water before setting out across the desert.
 
 
She had done much the same thing the last night she ate at her family’s house before leaving with Rosurie for Lumanen Convent. She imagined she would do it again the night before she and Justin left the Lirrenlands and headed back toward Ghosenhall.
 
 
He felt her eyes on him and turned to give her a quick smile, utterly guileless, completely free of pain. When he put his hand out, she laced her fingers through his and held on as tightly as she could.
 
 
IN the morning, the single party broke cleanly into two with a minimum of fuss and farewell. Kirra insisted Justin and Ellynor take the leftover meat—“We’ll just hunt every day we’re on the road, so we don’t need it”—and Tayse asked when Justin thought they might be expected back in the royal city.
 
 
“Six weeks, maybe,” Justin said, glancing at Ellynor with a question in his eyes. She nodded, thinking most of that time would be taken by travel. “We’ll come back through Kianlever.”
 
 
“I’ll let them know when you’ve crossed the mountains back into Gillengaria,” Cammon promised, and everyone laughed.
 
 
“No secrets in our little group,” Kirra said brightly, and mounted her horse with careless grace. “It’s too cold to stand around talking! Travel safely. See you soon.”
 
 
With that, everyone climbed into the saddle, everyone called out a good-bye, and the two groups of riders went their separate ways.
 
 
The brilliant sunshine didn’t do much to warm the air, which got colder and thinner the higher they climbed. The trails were either poorly marked or completely nonexistent, and more than once Ellynor thought they had lost the way altogether. She had only crossed the mountains once before, and that was going in the other direction. She had no idea how to pick a route through these slaty slopes and sharp, jumbled boulders. But Justin seemed perfectly at ease in the unfamiliar terrain, watching the paths ahead and confidently guiding his horse across expanses that looked impossible to traverse.
 
 
They made camp just below the peak, huddling together for warmth since there was limited fuel for a fire. Sunrise was the most welcome sight Ellynor had ever seen, and they scrambled down the eastern slope of the mountain on foot, holding the reins of their horses. The air warmed considerably with every yard they descended, and they were on level ground more than an hour before sunset.
 
 
Oh, and then they were in the Lirrens. Oh, then they were in that wild, beautiful, dangerous, beloved land.
 
 
CHAPTER 42
 
 
IT took six more days to travel to Ellynor’s family’s house. Justin watched the miles unfold around them, finding the terrain strikingly different from the lush and mostly fertile land of Gillengaria. The Lirrens were generally rocky, dotted with small stony hills and low, uneven meadows that nurtured only stunted trees and starved weeds. Their route didn’t take them past rolling farmland or any cultivated fields that Justin could see, though Ellynor told him most of the homesteads featured small gardens that required unending effort to tend.
 
 
“And there are farms near the eastern coast, where the Dalrian
sebahta
grows grains, and they trade with the rest of us,” she said. “Except they don’t trade with the Cohfens, but the Cohfens buy their grain from the rest of us.”
 
 
They passed no towns, no roadside taverns, none of the marks of civilization that Justin was used to. Instead, Ellynor pointed out individual homesteads and clan clusters as they passed—usually a collection of low buildings on relatively level land near a natural source of water.
 
 
“Not much help for a traveler passing through,” Justin commented. “Unless he can count on the kindness of the people who own the houses.”
 
 
“Well, he can if he’s kin,” Ellynor said. “But if he’s not kin— or if he’s from a feuding
sebahta-ris
—then, no. He doesn’t ask to stop for the night. He just keeps riding.”
 
 
He glanced down at her, reckoning. “That’s why you need the
sebahta-ris
,” he said. “So you have friends everywhere you go. Somewhere to stay when you travel.”
 
 
“That’s
one
of the reasons,” she said.
 
 
He grunted. “Bet that was the first one, and all the rest of it came later.”
 
 
She smiled and shook her head.
 
 
They talked easily while they rode, since the ground was too rough for them to maintain a fast pace. He was still apprehensive about what to expect when they arrived at Ellynor’s home, so he asked for more details about what to say, what not to say, who might be there awaiting them, who might arrive a few days after they did. He made her repeat over and over the names of her closest kin, and within three days he could rattle off her aunts and uncles by blood, as well as their sons and daughters. Pretty soon he could also recite the basic alliances within the Lahja
sebahta-ris
, though he had trouble keeping track of the friendships that developed between individual families of feuding clans.
 
 
“It’s like learning the names of all the marlords in the Twelve Houses!” he exclaimed. “Kirra can tell you what serramarra married what serramar fifty years ago and how many children they had and where
they
were married off.”
 
 
“Well, it’s easier if you know them,” Ellynor said. “If you actually care about them.”
 
 
“If I actually think it’s important,” he grumbled, but he could feel himself laughing. “Tell me this,” he said. “Do I have to wait for everyone to be present before I give you the bride gift?”
 
 
She had told him already that the presentation of the gift should be very public, yet not seem ostentatious or rehearsed. It was supposed to flow naturally from some conversation at a time that would seem perfectly designed for a declaration of love. Justin was fairly certain that it would be the most awkward moment of his life. He kept asking for details, trying to visualize the setting, trying to prepare.
 
 
“No,” she said. “Not if the right moment arrives and some of the family is still on the road. But you don’t want to go through the whole visit without presenting it to me! Everyone will know why we’re there. They’ll think it very peculiar if you never mention you want to marry me.”
 
 
“But how do I know what the right moment is?” he insisted.
 
 
She spread her hands, looking helpless. He realized that, to her, it was such an intuitive thing that it was hard to explain. “Well, this is how my cousin’s husband did it. We were talking about chickens, and how to get them to lay more eggs, and what to feed them. And he laughed and told a story about the time his mother lost a ring in the chicken coop and one of the hens ate it, but they didn’t know which one. So they started slaughtering chickens, two a day, and poking through the entrails. They were eating chicken every night for a month. He said soon they were begging to be fed venison or grouse or
anything
except chicken. One day, his mother found the ring in the droppings of this mean old hen that was so stringy and tough that no one would have thought to prepare her for the cookpot. And it was her favorite ring, and she was so happy to have it back that she snatched it up and cleaned it off and put it right back on her hand. And then she made a feast dinner for them that very night. And when he was done telling this story, he turned to my cousin and said, ‘She loved that ring more than anything, and she gave it to me so that I could give it to my bride.’ ”

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