Watt-Evans, Lawrence - Annals of the Chosen 01 (73 page)

 
It
took
perhaps
twenty
minutes'
work
to
extinguish
j
the
last
traces
of
the
fire,
and
by
then
Merrilin
and the
Beauty
had
set
Kilila's
broken
arm
and
put
her
to bed—fortunately,
her
bed
was
in
a
corner
of
the
loft
well
clear
of
the
fire.
Garant
was
now
sleeping
in
his
mother's arms
as
she
sat,
rocking
and
cooing,
by
the
loft
rail
near
her daughter's
bed.

Sezen
had
joined
Breaker
and
Boss
in
cutting
burning thatch
from
overhead
and
stamping
it
to
ash
or
kicking
it into
the
flooded
room
below;
the
three
men's
eyes
were
watering
from
the
smoke,
and
all
were
coughing
sporadically, but
the
fire
was
out.

Amazingly,
no
rain
had
yet
penetrated
the
burned
area. "It's
not
really
so
surprising,"
the
Leader
said,
when
Breaker
commented
on
it.
"After
all,
if
water
could
get
in, then
the
thatch
wouldn't
have
been
dry
enough
to
burn."
"It's
a
good,
thick
roof,"
Sezen
said.
"I
wanted
it
to
last."
"Well,
it's
not
as
thick
as
it
was,"
Breaker
pointed
out. "And
I
doubt
it'll
smell
very
pleasant.
You'll
want
to
repair that
when
the
weather
improves."

"Is
the
weather
ever
going
to
improve?"
Sezen
asked.
"If
the
Wizard
Lord
has
truly
gone
mad,
then
how
do
we
know
he
won't
keep
it
raining
until
all
Barokan
is
underwater?"

"I
don't
think
he
can
do
that,"
Breaker
said
mildly.

"For
one
thing,
we'll
kill
him
soon,"
the
Leader
said.
'The eight
of
us."

Merrilin
looked
up
from
her
children
at
that.
"Seven,"
she said.

The
three
men
turned.

"I'm
not
going,"
she
said.
"After
this?
I
can't
leave
my children
after
this!
Kilila
needs
me—I
can't
go
anywhere until
her
arm
heals."

"But
..."
Sezen
began.

"I
want
him
dead,"
she
said.
"Oh,
believe
me,
after
this
I
really
want
him
dead!
And
if
you
seven
can't
do
it,
then maybe
I
will.
But
my
children
come
first."

"But
..."

"Sezen,
if
I
go
with
them,
the
Wizard
Lord
will
send more
lightning.
He
might
kill
you
all,
and
burn
down
the house—but
if
I'm
here
he
won't
dare.
He
knows
that
I'd come
after
him,
and.
..
well,
he
doesn't
know
what
I
can
do,
but
/
know.
I
did
some
experimenting,
back
when
I
was
young,
and
the
magic
is
still
there.
Maybe
I
don't
have
a
magic
weapon
like
the
Swordsman,
or
a
seductive
voice like
the
Beauty,
but
I
have
my
own
ways.
If
the
Wizard
Lord defeats
the
others,
he
still
won't
be
safe;
he'll
pay
for
this,
for
breaking
my
daughter's
arm,
one
way
or
another.
But
right now,
my
family
comes
first,
and
I'm
staying
right
here."