Monday, May 3, 2010 - Men and women roamed the streets, feeding on...
Men and women roamed the streets, feeding on rumor, choking on fearOn almost every corner a different story was heardIt was said that Rinaldo, the last Duke's brother, had come back to the city to take command in the castle; by the middle of the day everyone had heard some version of the tale, but no one had seen the man
A restless, nervous darkness fellThe streets remained crowded all night longIt seemed that no one in Senzio could sleepThe night was bright and very beautiful, both moons riding through a clear skyOutside Solinghi's inn a crowd gathered, there was no room at all inside, to hear the three musicians play and sing of freedom, and of the glory of Senzio's pastSongs not sung since Casalia had relinquished his claim to his father's Ducal Throne and allowed himself to be called Governor instead with emissaries from the Tyrants to advise himBoth emissaries were deadMusic drifted out from Solinghi's into the scented summer chanel mens watches j12 night, spilling along the lanes, rising toward the stars
Just after dawn, word cameAlberico of Barbadior had crossed the border the afternoon before and was advancing north with his three armies, burning villages and fields as he wentBefore noon they heard from the north as well: Brandin's fleet had lifted anchor in Farsaro Bay and was sailing south with a favorable wind
All through Senzio town people left their homes, left the taverns and the streets and began thronging, belatedly, to the temples of the Triad
In the almost deserted front room of Solinghi's that afternoon one man continued to play the Tregean pipes, faster and faster and higher and higher, in a wild, almost forgotten tune
Chapter 20
THE SEA WAS AT THEIR BACK, AT THE END OF A LONG goatherds' track that wound down the slope to the sands just south of where they'd beached the ships and come ashoreAbout two miles north of them the walls of Senzio rose up, and from this balenciaga bag replica height Dianora could see the gleaming of the temple domes and the ramparts of the castleThe sun, rising over the pine forests to the east, was bronze in a close, deep blue skyIt was warm already this early in the day; it would be very hot by mid-morning
By which time the fighting would have begun
Brandin was conferring with d'Eymon and Rhamanus and his captains, three of them newly appointed from the provincesFrom Corte and Asoli and Chiara itselfNot from Lower Corte, of course, though there were a number of men from her province in the army below them in the valleyShe had wondered briefly, lying awake one night in the flagship off Farsaro, if Baerd was one of themShe knew he wouldn't be thoughJust as Brandin could not change in this, neither could her brotherHowever much might alter, this single thing would go on until the last generation that knew Tigana died
And she? Since the Dive, since rising from the sea, she had been trying omega constellation hard not to think at allSimply to move with the events she had set in motionTo accept the shining fact of Brandin's love for her and the terrible uncertainties of this warShe no longer saw the riselka's path in her mind's eyeShe had some sense of what that meant, but she made an effort not to dwell upon it during the dayNights were different; dreams were always differentShe was owner and captive, both, of a bitterly divided heart
With her two guards just behind her she moved forward on the crown of the hill and looked out over the wide east-west running valleyThe dense green pine woods were beyond, with olive trees growing on steeper ridges to the south and a plateau north leading to Senzio town
Down below the two armies were just stirring, men emerging from their tents and sleeping-rolls, horses being saddled and harnessed, swords cleaned, bowstrings fitted and readiedMetal glinted in the young sun all along the valleyThe sound of chanel bag gold chain voices carried easily up to her in the clear bright airThere was just enough breeze to take the banners and lift them to be seenTheir own device was new: a golden image of the Palm itself, picked out against a background of deep blue for the seaThe meaning of Brandin's chosen image was as clear as he could make it, they were fighting in the name of the Western Palm, but the truer claim was to everythingTo a united peninsula with Barbadior driven awayIt was a good symbol, Dianora knewIt was also the proper, the necessary step for this peninsulaBut it was being taken by the man who had been King of Ygrath
There were even Senzians in Brandin's army, besides the men of the four western provincesSeveral hundred had joined them from the city in the two days since they'd landed in the southern part of the bayWith the Governor dead and a squabble for meaningless power going on in the castle, the official policy of Senzian neutrality was in copy mulberry handbag tatter
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