Part 52 (2/2)
”Where?” Chay asked. Chay asked.
”It's a holding we visited this summer-remember, Maarken? They owe us,” he added to his mother. ”And they've got a quarry.”
Rohan nodded happily. ”I'd almost forgotten!”
”Hold it right there,” Chay ordered. ”I a.s.sume you're going to explain that later, but what I want to know right now is what in all h.e.l.ls you're talking about.”
”I gave Castle Crag to Ostvel for a reason, you know. I want a new palace that embraces both the Desert and Princemarch. This valley isn't too far from the pa.s.s leading to Stronghold. And this is where the Rialla Rialla will be held in the future, not in Waes.” He pulled Sioned to him and kissed her again. ”So my Sunrunners won't have the bother of crossing the Faolain anymore!” will be held in the future, not in Waes.” He pulled Sioned to him and kissed her again. ”So my Sunrunners won't have the bother of crossing the Faolain anymore!”
A little while later Lleyn arrived with the rest of the party. His approval was instantaneous for the valley, a new palace, and a new site for the Rialla. Rialla.
”Clutha won't mind, and Gennadi will be grateful not to have it hanging over her head every three years. Besides, I've always felt the High Prince ought to have an accessible residence. Castle Crag is an impossible place. ”This. . . .” He gazed into the valley and nodded. ”This is indeed perfect.” The old man grinned suddenly. ”By the way, did you find Alasen's hawk?”
”Oh, G.o.ddess!” Sioned exclaimed. ”I completely forgot!”
She wove sunlight while the servants and guards began organizing their camp for the night. But her efforts met with no success and she apologized to Alasen, who shook her head and smiled.
”She'll show up again, once she's fed full on whatever she caught.”
”I gave her to you, and I don't intend to lose her through my own stupidity,” Sioned replied. ”Let's go find her. Pol, Rohan, Ostvel, come with us.”
Maarken joined them after seeing Hollis comfortably settled in the shade with Lleyn to keep her company. She shook her head when he asked a silent question with his eyes.
”I'm feeling quite well, love. And I haven't had any wine since yesterday morning. I think it's over, Maarken-or nearly so.”
He kissed both her hands and smiled.
Lleyn poked his leg with the end of his dragon-headed cane. ”You've had her all to yourself for days now,” he scolded. ”Allow an old man to flirt with your pretty wife out of your hearing. I promise I'll make only the most scandalous suggestions, guaranteed to put a blush back in her cheeks.”
”Old lecher,” Maarken accused fondly.
They rode away from the trees, following the course of the river toward the lake. Rohan was full of plans that Pol amplified, the pair exchanging ideas as if they'd rehea.r.s.ed this for years.
”And over there we'll plant an orchard, and a grove of nut trees.”
”More grapevines up that hill-”
”If we hold the Rialla Rialla here, we'll have to have a racing circle-but at the end of the valley so there won't be so much dust.” here, we'll have to have a racing circle-but at the end of the valley so there won't be so much dust.”
”Could we set up a horse farm with it?”
”Now, wait just a-” Maarken began, but neither heard him.
”Excellent! Nothing elaborate, just stables and a paddock-we'll breed for color! What would you say to a pasture full of golden horses? We can coax Chay into giving us a few good mares and a stud-”
”Giving you?” Maarken said, more loudly. you?” Maarken said, more loudly.
”Selling, then,” Pol laughed. ”You wouldn't begrudge us a few horses, would you?”
”Dangerous question,” Sioned put in. ”What about this palace?”
”A foundation of Rezeld stone, but a facade of that wonderful grayish marble from that quarry north of here-you remember we saw it this summer, Pol. It'll s.h.i.+ne silvery in the sun and rose-gold at dawn and dusk.”
”With a blue tile roof,” the boy affirmed. ”Kierstian ceramic. Father! I have an idea! Why not have something from every princedom, the way it is in the Great Hall at home?”
”I like it,” Rohan announced. ”We'll have a whole palace to work with, after all.”
Alasen had been listening to all of this with wide eyes; Ostvel, with an indulgent grin. He touched her arm and said, ”Tobin's right, you know. They're utterly mad.”
”Ha!” Sioned scoffed. ”This from the man who redid Skybowl from cellar to tower, and before that changed Stronghold from one end to the other, and before that that ruled G.o.ddess Keep for all that Urival held the t.i.tle of chief steward! I know exactly how you're going to spend your first year of marriage, Alasen: wondering which room at Castle Crag you're not going to recognize next!” ruled G.o.ddess Keep for all that Urival held the t.i.tle of chief steward! I know exactly how you're going to spend your first year of marriage, Alasen: wondering which room at Castle Crag you're not going to recognize next!”
”A vile slander, unworthy of a High Princess,” Ostvel told her. ”Aren't you supposed to be finding a hawk?”
”A graceless change of subject, unworthy of a regent!” she shot back, laughing. ”But you're right. Let's see if our wayward friend is airborne again.”
They stopped half a measure from the lake. As she wove light once more, Maarken asked his uncle, ”Why hasn't anybody lived in this valley before? It's beautiful, according to Sioned it'll grow anything, and it's not badly situated, though a little far from the main roads. Why do you think-”
He broke off abruptly. Rohan was not listening. He had reined in, his body rigid, his face turning to the north where the small lake spread its s.h.i.+mmer before the embrace of the hills narrowed. Sioned drew back from the sunlight and stared at him. He was tense with expectation, eyes s.h.i.+ning. Sioned exchanged a wry smile and a nod with Maarken.
”That's why,” she said. why,” she said.
Dragons.
Upwards of thirty adolescents and hatchlings, watched over by five adult females and a sire, flew down from the high hills into the valley. They wheeled in dizzying patterns before landing to drink at the lake. The hatchlings were nicely grown, almost half the size of their elders, sleek with good summer feeding in the Veresch. Some plunged into the lake for a wash, earning annoyed snarls from the others as they stirred up sediment.
The horses sidled nervously. The dragons condescended to give the humans a single disinterested glance before proceeding to ignore them.
”I wish Feylin could see them,” Rohan murmured. ”Look at those beauties!”
”Mother . . . how does he do do that?” Pol whispered. that?” Pol whispered.
She shrugged. ”He's dragon-bred, too, you know.” Suddenly she straightened in her saddle. A reddish-brown female dragon sprang up from the lakesh.o.r.e and soared lazily above them, calling out softly. Sioned calmed her restive horse and rode forward a few paces. The dragon spiraled down, wings spread wide to show their golden undersides and head extended to peer at Sioned. A raucous howl of greeting presaged a masterful display of flying skills, ending in a happy plunge into the middle of the lake that splashed water nearly to the sh.o.r.eline.
”It's Elisel!” Sioned waved. The dragon rolled over and over in the water before sculling to the shallows and standing erect. Another cry of joyous greeting sounded, and wings were shaken in a shower of sparkling drops.
”Elisel?” Rohan asked.
She glanced at him, embarra.s.sed. ”My dragon. I've been calling her that in my mind. It means 'little wing.' ”
He smiled. ”And people accuse me me of being foolish about dragons! At least I never put a name to one!” He paused, then added thoughtfully, ”But then, I never had my own dragon, either.” of being foolish about dragons! At least I never put a name to one!” He paused, then added thoughtfully, ”But then, I never had my own dragon, either.”
”You think I do?” she laughed.
”Well, just look at her-showing off for you, calling out as if she'd been looking for you! I'd say you do indeed have your very own dragon, Sioned.”
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