Lightnings Daughter, Mary Herbert [year 7 reading list .TXT] 📗

find you five days ago. He told me you had left. There was no sign of where you were going, when---or even if---you would return."

She smiled. "You should have known that I would return."

Athlone nodded once, sharply, unwil ing to give up his anger that easily. "Where did you go?"

"Heretic!" someone suddenly shouted from the edge of the crowd. Thalar shouldered his way through the people and planted himself in front of Nara. "Be warned. Your exile is over, but this clan wil not tolerate your evil magic!"

Nara snorted menacingly, but the furious priest ignored her and shook his fist at the young woman.

"Your presence curses us, Sorceress, and your foul heresies bring our doom. Leave us in peace!"

"Thalar!" the chieftain said sharply.

Nara, however, had had enough. Her head snaked forward, and she snapped at the priest, her teeth coming dangerously close to his head. The crowd gasped as Thalar stumbled backward, his eyes wide with shock.

"That wil be enough," Athlone demanded.

Thalar started to say something, but the Hunnuli mare flattened her ears, and he stepped hastily back. Glaring ferociously, the priest withdrew to the edge of the crowd.

The sorceress ignored him. She patted Nara and said to Athlone, "Please, Lord, could we go to the hal ? The Hunnuli are hungry, and I am very tired. I wil tell you everything over a hot meal."

The chieftain nodded and said with genuine relief, "Welcome home." He glanced back at the hall with a strange expression of regret. "There is someone else who has been waiting for you."

"Oh?" Gabria asked. She felt a tug of foreboding, but Athlone dismounted without a reply and handed his reins to a warrior. Gabria, too, slid off her horse. The mare gently nudged her rider before she and Eurus trotted back to the meadows.

Gabria watched them go. Standing beside her, Athlone studied the sorceress's features and marveled that a face capable of showing such love could also have such strength.

The crowd began to disperse to their own tents and cooking fires. Athlone, Gabria, and several hearthguard warriors walked up the hill to the entrance of the hall.

Twilight was settling into the valley. Once inside the open doors of the hall, Gabria noticed the lamps were lit and a fire was burning in the central hearth. A haunch of meat had been set to the side of the fire, ready for the chieftain, his family, and any other warrior who wanted to eat in the hall. Lady Tungoli and her serving girls were setting up the trestle tables before bringing in the meal.

Gabria said softly, "It's good to be home." The chieftain overheard her, and the quiet pleasure of her words evaporated the vestiges of his anger. He offered her his arm, and they walked into the hall together.

As Gabria and the men ate their meal and talked, Piers, Cantrell, and a stocky, ruddy-skinned man Gabria did not recognize came to join them. Other clanspeople sat close by, listening. Lady Tungoli organized her serving girls and also joined the group to hear the talk. No one bothered to introduce Gabria to the stranger in their midst.

Sitting beside Athlone's dais, Gabria told them all about her vision, her journey to Corin Treld, and the burial mound she had found there. She did not mention her own catharsis, but those who knew her wel sensed the new peace and assurance in her manner. She went on to describe the Wheel and her meeting with the Hunnuli. Her listeners sat spellbound as she told of the black horses and their king.

When she repeated the King Stal ion's warning about Branth, the stranger sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Lord Athlone, I---" he began.

The chieftain waved him to silence. "A moment, please, Khan'di." He turned back to Gabria. "You haven't told us yet why you have a second Hunnuli."

Gabria lingered over her cup of wine for a moment before answering. "The King Stallion sent him."

"Why?"

"He thought you needed a mount befitting your abilities."

Athlone looked up at the ceiling, the lines on his face taut. "I have a good mount. One befitting a chieftain."

The warriors around him stared at their chief in surprise. Any among them would have traded their swordarms for a Hunnuli to ride, but Gabria looked into Athlone's face and understood his refusal. She sipped her wine and let the subject drop. The King Stal ion's advice was wise. She would let Athlone and Eurus work out their difficulties.

Athlone, meanwhile, settled back into his seat and acquiesced to her silence. He had no wish to push the subject further. Instead he poured more wine into his cup and passed the silver ewer to the stranger. "Khan'di Kadoa, now you know why we have been unable to find Lady Gabria," the chieftain said with a twist of wry humor. "Perhaps now you would tell her why you are here."

Gabria final y got a good look at the stranger when he rose from the table and bowed to her. She guessed he was about fifty years old, for his short-cropped hair was gray and his heavy face was deeply lined around the mouth and forehead.

He was dressed simply in a pair of leggings and a knee-length hooded shirt, but there was nothing simple about the massive gold seal ring on his index finger. He met her scrutiny with a sharp, interested gaze of his own, and Gabria recognized immediately that this man was no fool.

"Lady, I am Khan'di Kadoa, a nobleman and merchant from the great city of Pra Desh, capital of the kingdom of Calah," he said smoothly. "I have come to talk to you about this exile, Branth. As I have told your chieftain, Branth has been in Pra Desh over six months now and has been causing nothing but trouble."

Gabria shifted in her seat. "What has he been doing?"

"He has an old book of spells and the ability, however feeble, to use them." The man leaned forward, his