Part 10 (1/2)
The giant demurred, corrected, ”We talked then, and decided it was just You must abide by the decision”
”Talk is fine,” the shae the rules of a duel True?”
Confused, Blinddru, who nodded and dropped her swordpoint ”He is right,”
she said ”Tradition gives him a day to rest before the next duel”
”Saved by tradition!” Sunbright gulped ”I choose to rest” He limped to the circle, where he joined Monkberry and Knucklebones to return to the hut
Behind, noise swelled as the crowd argued Why didn't Blinddruht a day of rest? Was the duel even necessary when Sunbright was under a sentence of death to begin with? Why not just execute him? Who would wear the wolf masks? Did they even have a wolfher grinning son ”You're not back one day, child,”
she said, ”yet the tribe buzzes and talks as they haven't in months Would your father could see this”
”See people squabble endlessly?” Knucklebones de!”
”At least they're not crying, laht offered ”They discuss how their lives should run, not be run”
The thief shook her head ”It must be the water here,” she mumbled ”Or the thin air It drives people insane”
Sunbright chuckled in the dark as he crawled into his rily prodded his wounds Lying on dirt, his head pillowed on stone, Sunbright hissed at her touch, then sighed, ”Ah, it's good to be horowled the part-elf, ”insane”
Sunbright and Knucklebones used the next day to scout the camp, identify old faces and learn new ones, climb a low hill and scan the wasteland, and walk to the mountainside to check the local resources In a narrow cleft, fresh water spilled into a shallow, pebbled pool where they swam and made love They spotted a few small deer and rabbits, so set wire snares, but found little else Rocks ruled this corner of the world Sunbright concluded, ”This land can't sustain us We'we?' I'm not a member of your tribe, and never will be A part-elven thief is as different from your yellow-haired northerners as a fox from a fish”
”True” The two sat on a rock and watched mountain shadows overtake the wasteland He put his brawny arm around her small shoulders and said, ”But it's tradition in our tribe to steal wives and husbands, for we're forbidden to ardt in a raid Father said he picked the fe on He showed ave him, bite marks that never went away He lacked an earlobe that my mother spat out Mostly we marry other barbarians, but some have dark hair Note you Archloft has brown hair?
He was kidnapped off a trail by a raiding party and led under his arled her bare feet in the air, but was not comforted
”There are none of elven blood,” she said, ”and I am more of the old folk than human, I think I wish I could talk to ht leaned forward to peer at her face This wistful heartsickness was new, but then Knucklebones's city-tough shell had been gradually eroding under his loving attention, and by traveling where she needn't battle for her life every minute He kissed her forehead above the eye patch
”I don't know entle and sweet and bright, for so is her daughter”
The thief surreptitiously wiped away a tear, and said, ”I shall be lonely too, when you're killed”
Sunbright chuckled, ”No one will kill me”
”You're a thorn in their side You renity and traditions, and people hate to be reminded of loss”
”What's lost can be reclai”
Knucklebones hopped down beside him Her head barely reached his breastbone She pointed at the raound on his thigh Sunbright had usedtraditional herbs and ointed, and red on both sides Pain ht with that?”
”I've no choice,” he said
Knucklebones suddenly squeezed his runt ”We have a choice,” she insisted ”We could leave! Take your o There's a whole orld to live in”
Sunbright kissed her curls ”No,” he said ”I belong a”
”Without you,” she ”
He picked up her chin, kissed her small mouth, and said, ”You could be a queen if you chose An e else For you're brave and smart and kind, just like-” He interrupted hi ”Like Green?”
”Like any strong woman of elven blood,” the man demurred ”Come, we mustn't be late”
”Late to your funeral,” she said, but then picked down the slope with the ht the air was different The crowd didn't wait passively, but argued a stories and precedents and songs, deht saw his people, docile as cows at slaughter yesterday, ani at his mother, then his lover, he limped into the circle with Harvester in hand The crowd stilled to watch And listen
Thornaited The woman was tall and rail-thin, bony across the shoulders and breast, with arhter, she wore the traditional haircut, shaved teed back in a horsetail She saluted with her sword ”Pray as yesterday,” she said, ”and we'll begin”
Sunbright rubbed his nose to hide a grin ”You've a fine sword,” he chided ”You and Blinddru answered siht steel blade with a down-curved poed in Remembrance, near Sunrest Mountain and the Glorifier? Yet in the past the Rengarth used only iron or bronze blades made at home Is this soed, and said, ”We needed a stronger blade to teach swordse, so traded our old swords for this new one Soh it is well to recall old traditions”
”That's a shareat deeds of the past, so we go forth into the future with sense, and without shaht,” the woman snapped
”Because I must I'd rather talk and tell stories, but one must first cut a reindeer's throat to enjoy its haunch”
”Then pray,” she said, ”and fight”
Sunbright praised the Keeper of Law, and this time the crowd murmured with hihters