A Time of Exile - Katharine Kerr [116]
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Late on the morrow morn, Nevyn was working out in back, planting a few quick-growing herbs and hoping that they would reach a decent size before the days turned short, when he heard a horseman riding up to the cottage. Trowel in hand, he hurried round and saw Lord Pertyc dismounting at the front gate.
“Good morrow, my lord. To what do I owe this honor of a visit? I hope no one’s ill at your dun.”
“Oh, thanks be to holy Sebanna, we’re all healthy enough. Just thought I’d have a chat, since you’re new here and all.”
Nevyn stuck the trowel in his belt and swung open the gate. Pertyc followed him in, looking wide-eyed round the garden as if he expected to see spirits leering out from under every bush. The place was full of spirits, of course, little gray gnomes sucking their fingers, blue sprites, ratty-haired and long-nosed, grinning to show pointed teeth, sylphs like airy crystals, darting this way and that. Inside, near the hearthstone, Wildfolk sat on the table and the bench and climbed on the shelves full of herbs. On the table a leather-bound book lay open.
“Ye gods!” Pertyc said. “That’s my most illustrious ancestor’s book!”
“One of them, at least. Being here made me think of it. Have you ever read it?”
“I take it on, every now and then. When every Maelwaedd man comes of age, his father tells him to read the Ethics. So you plow through a bit, and then your father admits that he could never finish the wretched thing, either, and you know you’re truly a man among men.”
“I see. Won’t you honor me by sitting down, my lord? I can fetch you some ale.”
“Oh, no need.” Pertyc had an anxious eye for the shelves of strange herbs and drugs. “Can’t stay more than a minute, truly. Er, well, you see, there was somewhat I wanted to ask you about.”
“The Wildfolk? I figured that Maer would tell you what happened.”
“He did indeed. Um, you were just humoring my lad, weren’t you?”
A yellow gnome reached over and closed the book with a little puff of dust. Pertyc yelped.
“I wasn’t, actually,” Nevyn said. “Does his lordship truly doubt that young Adraegyn can see the Wildfolk?”
“Well, I can’t say that I do, but I like to keep it in the family, you know.”
“Ah. I take it that his lordship’s wife is a woman of the Westfolk.”
“Well, she was.”
“My apologies, my lord. I didn’t realize that she’d ridden through the gates of the Otherlands.”
“Naught of the sort, if you mean did she die.” A tone of injured pride crept into Pertyc’s voice. “As far as I know, anyway, she’s alive and well and no doubt as nasty and strong-minded as she ever was. I suppose I’m being unfair. I don’t know how I ever thought she could live in a dun and be the proper wife of a noble lord, but by all the ice in all the hells, she might have tried!”
“I see.” Nevyn suppressed a grin. “I take it that you didn’t stand in her way when she decided to leave.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered one jot if I’d gone down on my knees and begged her to stay.” All at once he turned faintly pink. “But why I’m burdening your ears with all of this, I don’t know. You seem to be an easy man to talk to, Nevyn.”
“My thanks, my lord. It’s a valuable thing in a herbman, being easy to talk to.”
“No doubt. Herbman, huh? Is that all you are?”
“And what else would my lordship think I am?”
“Now, I know that most men would mock the dweomer, good sir, but we Maelwaedds don’t. There’s bits and pieces about it in Prince Mael’s books, for one thing, and well, we pass the lore along. We’re like badgers, truly. We hold on.”
“Even to your oaths to a foreign king?”
Lord Pertyc’s face went dead white. Nevyn smiled, thinking that this exercise in logic must seem an act of magic.
“We do,” Pertyc said at last. “Aeryc’s the king I swore to serve, and serve him I will.”
“With only ten men, it’s going to be hard to stand against the king’s enemies.”
“I know. A badger can tear one boarhound to pieces, but the pack will get him in the end. But a vow’s a vow, and that’s that. They just might honor my neutrality, or so I can hope, anyway.” All at once his lordship grinned. “Besides, I’ve already