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In the morning she would begin
Until then she...
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In the morning she would begin
Until then she could lie here, achingly awake and alone, as on another night at home so many years ago, and she could remember
PART THREE - EMBER TO EMBER
Chapter 9
IT WAS COLD IN THE GULLY BY THE SIDE OF THE ROADTHERE was a thin, sheltering line of birch trees between them and the gates of the Nievolene estate, but even so the wind was a knife whenever it picked up
There had been snow last night, a rare thing this far north, even in midwinterIt had made for a white, chilled second night of riding from Ferraut town where they had started, but Alessan had refused to slow their paceHe had said increasingly little as the night wore on, and Baerd said little at the best of timesDevin had swallowed his questions and concentrated on keeping up
They fake louis vuitton handbag had crossed the Astibar border in darkness and arrived at the Nievolene lands just after dawnThe horses were tethered in a grove about a half mile to the southwest, and the three men had made their way to this gully on footDevin dozed off at intervals through the morningThe snow made the landscape strange and crisp and lovely when the sun was out, but around mid-afternoon the grey clouds had gathered heavily overhead and it was only cold now, not beautiful at allIt had snowed again, briefly, about an hour before
When Devin heard the jingle of horses approaching through the greyness, he realized that the Triad, for once, were holding open palms toward themOr that, alternatively, the goddesses and the god had decided to give them a chance to do something fatally rashHe pressed himself as miu miu nappa flat as he could to the wet ground of the gullyHe thought of Catriana and the Duke, warm and sheltered with Taccio in Ferraut
A company of about a dozen Barbadian mercenaries materialized out of the grey landscapeThey were laughing and singing in boisterous exuberanceTheir horses' breath and their own made white puffs of smoke in the coldFlat in the gully Devin watched them go byHe heard Baerd's soft breathing beside himThe Barbadians stopped at the gates of what had once been Nievolene landsThey weren't anymore, of course; not since the confiscations of the fallThe company leader dismounted and strode to the locked gatesWith a flourish that drew cheers and laughter from his men he unlocked the iron gates with two keys on an ornate chain
"First Company," Alessan murmured under his louis vuitton damier breathHis first words in hours
They watched the gates swing open and saw the horses canter throughThe last man locked the iron gates behind him
Baerd and Alessan waited another few moments then rose to their feetDevin stood up as well, wincing at how stiff he felt
"We'll need to find the tavern in the village," Baerd said, his voice so unusually grim that Devin glanced sharply at him in the growing gloomThe other man's features were unreadable
"Not to go inside, though," Alessan said"What we do here, we do unknownHe pulled a much-creased paper from an inner pocket of his sheepskin vest"Shall we start with Rovigo's man?"
Rovigo's man turned out to be a retired mariner who lived in the village a mile to the eastHe told them where the tavern wasHe also, for a fairly significant sum of pink louis vuitton bag money, gave them a name: that of a known informer for Grancial and his Second Company of BarbadiansThe old sailor counted his money, spat once, meaningfully, then told them where the man lived, and something of his habits
Baerd killed the informer, strangling him two hours later as he walked along a country lane from his small farm towards the village tavernIt was full-dark by thenDevin helped him carry the body back towards the Nievolene gates and hide it in the gully
Baerd didn't speak, and Devin could think of nothing to sayThe informer was a paunchy, balding man of middle yearsHe didn't look especially evilHe looked like a man surprised on the way to his favorite tavernDevin wondered if he'd had a wife and childrenThey hadn't asked Rovigo's man about that; he was just as happy they cartier pasha women's watch hadn |
Posted: 8:33 AM, Friday, February 12, 2010 |
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