Read The Seedbearing Prince: Part I for Free Online Page A

you
see any smoke, or smell it at all this morning? He didn’t burn
anything out. He saw one of those men, too.”
    “Maybe it’s just one of his offworld cousins
here for Evensong?” Joam sighed when Dayn did not smile. “We’re not
Elders, Dayn, and neither is Grahm. Let them see to it, they’ll do
what’s best.”
    “I’m still going to talk with them. Yonas,
too, and anyone else I can find.” They made their way to the road
and headed west.
    “You are set on making a mess of Evensong,
aren’t you?” Joam leaped into a bound before Dayn could respond.
Back on the road, Joam soon began chattering about the girls he
planned to dance with, and which ones would be best to steal a kiss
from. Then again, he was the Sweetwater King, wouldn't that mean
they all wanted a kiss? Dayn only half listened.
    Grahm must be lying, but why? Usually
friendly and easygoing, he seemed more like a rope ready to snap
under some hidden strain. Did he see one of the men, too? Is he
keeping it quiet because of Evensong?
    Dayn wanted answers so his friend would not
think him crazy, or a liar. But most of all to make sure his family
was safe. The man in the well was dangerous, that much he knew.
Anything that drove the animals into a frenzy did not bode well for
the village. Dayn turned for one more look as Grahm's fields fell
behind them. The offworlder still stood there, watching the boys
bound away toward Wia Wells and Evensong.

     
     

CHAPTER THREE
    Evensong
     
    Palpo the merchant mocked the farmer, saying, 'O to
be a Shardian prince! To have the dirt kiss my feet, the sheep pay
me homage in their pens, and the trees drop fruit in my waiting
hand!'
    'Quite right,' the farmer agreed, 'A full belly and
an aching back is the life for us.’
    ‘ What is this aching you speak of?’ the merchant
asked.
    -from ‘Palpo the Merchant Buys the Belt’, an Ista
Cham children’s story
     
    S ounds of merrymaking
floated to their ears as the two approached Wia Wells. Dayn could
not help but grin, although the morning’s events still had him
looking around every corner. He shared an excited look with Joam as
the road carried them to the Wustl Square. “You didn't mention how
fine the village looked.”
    A simple place of sturdy wooden homes and
workshops with thatched roofs, Wia Wells nestled around a square of
wine-colored stone. Flowers of red and deep violet framed every
doorway, and golden streamers crisscrossed the paths between booths
built especially for festival traders.
    “They must have saved the best decorations
until now,” Joam marveled. The shops that enclosed the Wustl Square
all sparkled with fresh coats of whitewash. To the east lay Elder
Huwes the shoemaker’s shop, Sister Layren’s bakery, and a new
clothier moved from Southforte by marriage who Dayn did not yet
know. Brother Opram the smith had departed for the mines last
season, so his windows remained dark until an apprentice could be
found from a neighboring village. Jairn the gemcutter held a place
next to the Elder's repository, where they stored the village
histories and taught lessons.
    “Do you see any of the Elders?” Dayn
asked.
    “I’m sure they’ll turn up,” Joam said
absently. “You know there are offworlders, don’t you?”
    “Offworlders at Evensong!” Dayn exclaimed. He
peered at the crowd with renewed interest, missing Joam’s sigh of
relief. The Dawnbreak Inn crowned the southern side of the Square,
a full story higher than all the rest and painted a magnificent
blue. Guests stuffed the village’s finest building to the thatch,
judging from the people streaming through the front door.
    “I’m surprised Laman didn’t tell you.”
    A goodwife from Southforte swept toward them
and dropped a garland of blue dayroses on each of their necks. She
wore a brown dress and a moondrop necklace. More garlands were
looped through her arm, white and blue.
    “Welcome!” The goodwife’s long dreadlocks
swayed as she hugged them both. She gave