Spellfire - Ed Greenwood [170]
"I accept," Lureene added, gasping for breath. "Kiss me, now, don't hug the life from me!" Their tips met, and Lureene let out a little moan of happiness.
Gorstag held her as if she were a very fragile and beautiful thing that he feared to break. They stood together so, among the tables, as the front door of the inn creaked gently open, and a cool breeze drifted in about their ankles.
Gorstag turned, hand going to his belt. "Aye?" he demanded, before his night-keen eyes showed him who had come.
Lureene turned in his arms and let out a happy cry.
"Shandril!"
"Yes," said a small voice. "Gorstag? Can you forgive me?"
"Forgive you, little one?" Gorstag rumbled, striding forward to embrace her. "What's to forgive? Are you well? Where have you been? How-"
Outside, there was a snort and a creak of leather, and in mid-sentence, Gorstag said, "But you have horses to see to! Sit down, sit down with Lureene, who has a surprise to tell you, and I'll learn all when I'm done."
"I'm married, Gorstag," Shandril said quickly.
"He's- Narm’s with the horses."
Gorstag threw her a surprised look, but he never slowed his step. By the light of the fire, Shandril saw tears wet upon his cheeks, and then he was gone.
Lureene threw her arms about Shandril. "Lady Luck be praised, Shan! You're back and safe! Gorstag has been so worried about you, ah, but now… but now-" She burst into tears and held Shandril tightly.
Shandril felt tears of her own stinging her eyes, and she gulped quickly to forestall a happy flood.
"Lureene… Lureene…" she managed, voice breaking. "We cannot stay. Half the mages in Faerun are after us, and we're a menace to you even by being here."
Fearfully, she stared at the barmaid. She was touched that Lureene had missed her so-she'd always thought the older girl must find her tiresome.
Now she feared to lose what she had so fleetingly seen, swept away by fear. Lureene met her gaze and smiled, shaking her head slightly.
"Ah, little kitten, you have been hurt indeed, to fear these doors shut to you," Lureene said sadly. "If to see you again, we must entertain a few thousand angry mages, entertain them we shall, Gorstag and I, and think it a small price to pay.
"Ah, Shan, thank you! Thank you! You've made Gorstag so happy, he's like a youngling again-did you not see him stride and spring to the door?
You’ve made him happy again, the way he has not been since you left."
"But we must leave again, on the morrow," Shandril said, teetering on the edge of tears. "How-?"
"He will understand, Shan. He knows you are not ours any more-I don’t doubt that he's taking the measure of your man right now! It's just that he didn’t know what had befallen you. Could you not have left a note or some word?"
Shandril cried uncontrollably, emptying out all the fear and regrets and homesickness of the days since she'd fled the inn, seeking adventure. Lureene held her tightly and rocked her wordlessly, until at last Shandril's sobbing had died away to shuddering breaths.
Then she kissed Shandril's bent head and said softly,
"Do not be so full of sorrows, little kitten. I am most grateful to you." The body in her arms made a sort of bleating, questioning sound. Lureene hugged it still more tightly and said, "Gorstag was so upset over you, one night, that he could not sleep. I came to comfort him. He'd never have permitted me to do as I did, if he'd not been so in need of comfort. And he would not have asked me to be his wife."
Shandril looked up, hair all across her reddened eyes in disarray. "He did? Gorstag? Oh, Lureene!" Her tears were happy this time, and she hugged Lureene with bruising force. Ye gods, Lureene thought, stepping back to hold her balance, if this is what adventure does for a woman…
A woman? Shandril? But-aye! She is a woman, now, Lureene thought, holding her by the shoulders and meeting her delighted laughter with a fond smile.
This was not the girl who'd slipped away from the kitchen.
This was a lady