The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [171]
“Oh, by the Lord of Hell’s hairy ass!” Cullyn muttered. “Well, this should prove interesting. All right, lad, see that old man? You treat him with all the respect due a prince, because he’s a friend of Nevyn’s and the same sort of man—if you take my meaning. As for the fellow with him, well, now, you and everyone else in the dun are in for a bit of a surprise.” He waved to the approaching pair and jogged off to meet them. “Aderyn, my lord, it gladdens my heart to see you again. Calonderiel, if this isn’t a welcome thing! What are you doing so far from your cursed grasslands?”
“Guarding the Wise One from you wretched round-ears.” Grinning, the elf gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. “He wanted to come alone, but I wouldn’t hear of it.”
“I wouldn’t have either, if I’d been in your place.” Cullyn turned to Aderyn. “What brings you to us, my lord?”
“Oh, a small matter of my own. Can you get a page to take these horses, Cullyn? I need to talk to Nevyn straightaway.”
“But he’s gone, my lord. He sailed to Bardek weeks ago.”
“He what?” Aderyn’s open-mouthed surprise was close to comical.
“Sailed off for Bardek with Elaeno, the Orystinnian captain. Didn’t he tell you, my lord? I mean, I’ve always thought you had ways of sending messages that were faster than horses.”
“So we do, so we do, but he never did contact me. I assumed there was some sort of danger, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Oh ye gods, Cullyn, he must have simply forgotten! I’m beginning to wonder if the old man’s slipping a bit, I truly am.”
By then they’d gathered a small crowd of the idly curious. Cullyn handed the horses over to one servant, sent a page off to warn the tieryn, and ushered their guests inside the dun. When he realized how glad he was to see Aderyn, he had to laugh at himself. Only a few short years past he would have mocked any man who claimed to believe in sorcerers, and now here he was, outright relieved to have a dweomermaster in the dun again. When they came into the great hall, the tieryn rose from her place at the head of the honor table and turned their way. For a moment she looked terrified, but as they walked over to kneel in front of her, she relaxed and greeted the pair with a gracious smile.
“Calonderiel, isn’t it?” she said. “For a moment there I thought you were someone else. And who, good sir, may you be?”
“My name is Aderyn, Your Grace. Perhaps Nevyn has spoken of me?”
“He has, and truly, you’re more than welcome in my dun for as long as you wish to stay. Page! Run and tell Cook to prepare refreshments for our guests. They’ve come a long way. Bring mead, too. You’ll have to get out the best goblets, by the way. The usual ones are—well, never mind that now.”
“Her Grace is very kind,” Aderyn said. “And truly, if she has any need of me whatsoever, I’m at her service.”
Lovyan’s eyes filled with tears of relief, but she brushed them away and arranged another smile.
“I shall take your offer with humble thanks, good Aderyn. After you and your friend have rested, perhaps we can have a private talk in my chambers.” She glanced at Cullyn. “Maybe now we can get some news. I’ve been driven to distraction, wondering what Blaen’s been up to. Do join us, captain. I know that Calonderiel is a friend of yours.”
As they settled themselves at the table of honor, Calonderiel remembered his manners and took off the leather hat, dropping it casually on the table just as the page returned with a tray of goblets and a flagon of mead. The lad frankly stared at his long ears, curled to a delicate point like a seashell, and at his violet cat-slit eyes, too, until Cullyn leaned forward and intervened.
“You’ve got work to do, lad. Go do it.”
The boy fled. Calonderiel picked up his goblet and had a sip of mead.
“Sweet and light, but good, Your Grace,” he pronounced, saluting the tieryn. “My thanks for your hospitality, but don’t you think I’d better leave now that the Wise One’s safely here? It appears that I alarm your subjects.”
“They’ll have to get used to you and your people sooner or later, good sir.” Lovyan sounded oddly weary.