Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [13]
“Tieryn Dwaen of Bringerun, but he’s too good a man to have any truck with the likes of you.”
At that, the farmer picked up his bucket and turned back to his hogs. As they rode off, Rhodry was swearing under his breath.
About a mile farther on, the forest sprang up abruptly at the edge of cleared land, a dark, cool stand of ancient oaks, thick with underbrush along the road. In the warmth of a spring day, Jill found it pleasant, riding through the dappled shade and listening to the birdsong and all the rustling, scrabbling music of the lives of wild things—the chatter of a squirrel here, the creak of branches there, the occasional scratching in the bracken that indicated some small animal was beating a retreat as the horses passed by. That she would be riding through this splendor with her Rhodry at her side seemed to her the most glorious thing in the world.
“Shall we stop and eat soon?” Jill said. “We’ve got cheese, even if that whoreson piss-pot bastard wouldn’t sell us any bread. I hear water running nearby.”
Sure enough, the road took a twist and brought them to the deep, broad Belaver, which paralleled the road. At the bank, they found a grassy clearing that sported a tall stone, carved with writing. Since Rhodry knew how to read, he told Jill that it served notice that no one could hunt without permission of the tieryn at Bringerun. After they watered their horses, they ate their cheese and apples standing up, stretching after the long morning’s ride, and idly watched the river flowing past, dappled with sun like gold coins. All at once, Jill felt uneasy. She walked away from the river and stood listening by the road, but she heard nothing. That was the trouble: the normal forest noise had stopped.
“Rhodry? We’d best be on our way.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you hear how quiet it is? That means there’s men prowling round, and I’ll wager they’re the tieryn’s gamekeepers. We’d best stay on the public road if we don’t want trouble.”
They mounted and rode out, but as they let the horses amble down the road, Jill realized that she was still listening for something, hunting horns, barking dogs, some normal noise that should accompany gamekeepers on their rounds, but she never heard any. In about a mile, the birdsong picked up again.
As they rounded a bend, they met another party of riders ambling toward them. Two women led the way, a pretty lass in a rich blue dress, and an older person in gray who seemed to be her servingwoman from the deferential manner in which she spoke. Behind them on a pony rode a page carrying a big basket, and bringing up the rear, a swordsman on a warhorse, their escort. Since he was wearing no mail, they could see the blazon, a stag leaping over a fallen tree, embroidered on the yokes of his shirt. Jill and Rhodry pulled off the road to let the lady past, a courtesy which she acknowledged with a sunny smile and a wave of her gloved hand.
“My lady?” Rhodry called out. “May I ask whom we have the honor of seeing?”
“Lady Ylaena of Bringerun.” The page answered for the lady, as was his place. “Sister to Tieryn Dwaen.”
Rhodry bowed from the saddle with such a bright smile that Jill felt a stab of jealousy. She would never have pretty dresses and soft, pale skin like Ylaena’s. On the other hand, she could knock Rhodry all over a stable-yard if he ever tried to betray her, an advantage that the lady would lack in dealing with her eventual husband. Once the noble party had ridden by, they returned to the road.
“No doubt they’re meeting that hunting party we heard,” Rhodry remarked.
But his words caught Jill like an omen. Although she tried to talk herself out of it, she felt trouble round them like a cold wind. They’d ridden no more than half a mile when she surrendered.
“Rhoddo, we’ve got to turn back. That lady’s in danger. I know it sounds daft, but I know it as well as I know the sky’s blue. If we meet them, and I’m wrong, we can make up some tale about having lost a bit of gear in the road or suchlike.”
Jill could hear her voice shaking, and it was that fear that convinced Rhodry.