The Gold Falcon - Katharine Kerr [66]
That evening, in the privacy of the women’s hall, Branna read the message aloud for Lady Galla. Out of boredom as much as anything, Branna had badgered her father’s scribe into teaching her how to read, an art that her aunt had never mastered.
“My dear Lady Galla,” Branna began, “I send my greetings and my hopes that you are well. I have some news to give you, though for now I implore you to keep it shut up in your women’s hall. My brother has started negotiations for a marriage. As of yet I’m not at liberty to tell you with whom, but as you can no doubt guess, she’s the daughter of a man of high estate. I tell you this now because I’m sore troubled. Once my brother is married, his wife will be his chatelaine, and I fear me that I’ll have only a grudged place here. If out of the kindness of your heart you might offer me a place with you as a servingwoman, I should be forever grateful. I do have a small legacy that I could contribute to my maintenance. I do hope you’ll consider my plea, yours, Solla of Dun Cengarn.”
“As if I’d ask a servingwoman to pay for her food!” Galla burst out. “The poor lass, she must be desperately afraid if she’d write such things.”
“Just so,” Branna said. “I rather know how she feels.”
“Indeed. Well, she’s certainly welcome here. On the morrow I’ll send her my answer, that she’s not to worry. We’ll invite her for a visit, and then we can discuss the matter. Our scribe will doubtless lend you some ink and suchlike.”
“It would be better if he wrote the whole thing. Reading’s a fair bit easier than writing.”
“Ah. I suppose it must be. I hope he can keep a secret.”
“Oh, I’m sure he can. He’s a man of excellent character. Well, or so it seems to me.”
Galla suddenly smiled. “You seem quite taken with young Neb.”
“Is it shameful of me?”
“Not in the least. He strikes me as the sort of man who becomes a gwerbret’s councillor or suchlike one fine day.”
Branna smiled in profound relief. With a little laugh Galla patted her arm. “In a way, my dear,” Galla went on, “your father’s nasty wife has done you a great favor. It’s not many lasses who have the freedom you do when it comes to picking a husband.”
“That’s true, isn’t it? I’d not thought of it that way before.”
“Well, you see? It’s a stingy flood that doesn’t leave fish behind, as they always say. But I wouldn’t be in a great hurry, either, to marry your scribe. You might wait to see what game the dogs rouse before you mark your hare. And besides, there’s Gerran.”
“True spoken. There certainly is Gerran.”
Over the next few days Branna felt more like the hare than the hunter. It seemed that no matter where she walked in the dun, Gerran would suddenly appear at her side, attentive but no more talkative than he’d ever been. Aside from the usual greetings he would merely stare at her, silent but as tense as a strung bow. At first she tried to make conversation, and he’d usually manage to squeeze out a polite sentence or two before resorting to staring at her with an expression that might be considered devotion. She began to notice, too, that after a few strained moments of Gerran’s silence Neb would suddenly come hurrying over to rescue her.
“They must both be keeping a lookout for me,” Branna complained to Galla. “I can’t go anywhere without one or the other just popping up out of nowhere like the Lord of Hell.”
“Oh, come now, dear.” Galla smiled at her. “It’s very flattering.”
“Of course, but what if they come to blows or suchlike? I doubt me if Neb could match Gerran.”
“Now that’s true.” Galla’s smile disappeared. “Neb is far too valuable a servitor to lose. I’ll have a word with your uncle, and he’ll have a word with Gerran. There’s enough trouble with the wretched Horsekin. We don’t need more inside the dun.”
Lord Ynedd was screaming in rage while tears poured down his face and snot down his upper lip. He had set his skinny back against the dun wall and was flailing out with his fists. Clae and Coryn strolled back and forth in front of him and taunted, “Little lass! little lass! look at her pretty curls!” One or the other