Read The Starfollowers of Coramonde for Free Online Page A

thought I had a right to call him out, after the
way he did me this morning, but the Ku-Mor-Mai frowns on dueling inside
the city anymore. I reckoned it that we could re-examine the outcome of the
match, him and me. Still, I could not very well watch the pair of you laid by
the heels and carved up, could I now?”
    Gil reflected
that Gale-Baiter could very well have done just that; lots of people would
have. The envoy brought a liquor flask from beneath his seat cushion. He gave
Brodur a sip, then he and Gil each took a swig. It was thick, cordial-tasting
stuff Gil wouldn’t ordinarily have liked, but welcomed now.
    Gilbert
A., old son, he told himself, Brodur was right. Bey sure hasn’t lost his
touch.
    Brodur was
holding his wound, teeth gritted, clinging to consciousness. Gale-Baiter
slipped his scarf off, helping stop the seeping blood. It was decided the aide
must go to Earthfast, where Springbuck’s physicians could treat him.
    “Sorry am I,”
husked Brodur, “that Yardiff Bey’s control still extends so far. We wasted your
silver and you are no farther toward the Hand of Salamá.”
    “Don’t bet on
that.” Gil tucked the pistol away, carefully retaining the pellet of Earnai
he’d snatched from the booth with two fingers, just before leaving the snug. He
held the Dreamdrowse up to the fitful light of torches and cressets as the
coach tore along.
    “No, don’t be
too sure of that at all.”
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    So much the rather thou
celestial light Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate,
there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and
tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.
    John Milton
    Paradise Lost, Book III
     
    GABRIELLE deCourteney had been
installed in lush rooms, luxury appropriate to the sovereign’s mistress and a
pre-eminent sorceress.
    The knock
surprised her. Springbuck had said he’d be occupied with counsels, and would
see her at breakfast. Her handmaiden opened the door and Gil MacDonald stepped
in, right arm in a sling, a limp in his stride. Gabrielle inspected him coldly;
there’d never been much liking between them.
    “Can I talk
to you alone? Please.”
    Dismissing
the handmaiden, she curtly invited him to sit. “Have you had an accident? You
have seen the chirurgeons?”
    He skirted
her questions. “I’ll be okay. The arm’s numb, and my hook shot’s ruined, but
I’m bound up tight, and it’ll do.”
    Gabrielle
wore a gown of softest white kid, embroidered in the flowery, intricate Teebran
style. Masses of red curls tumbled around her shoulders, and the deep, green
eyes held him. He’d always felt jumpy around her. Her aloofness knocked him off
stride; she was too good at manipulating people.
    He told her
what had happened, words tumbling over each other, up to where he’d left Brodur
sitting propped up in bed, wound sutured closed, puffing on an old, deep-bowled
pipe, out of danger. Gil finished by holding up the waxy bead of Earnai.
Soliciting his permission with a lift of an eyebrow, she took the Dream-drowse,
and held it up to a candle.
    “Why me? Why
not Springbuck or Andre?”
    “Springbuck’s
preoccupied and—no offense—your brother’s too cautious. He might not go for
what I’ve got in mind.”
    “And I?”
    He hesitated.
“I figure you’ll try anything that sounds interesting. That’s the way you
strike me.” She didn’t reply. He knew he’d have to say it all without
prompting; that much she would demand.
    “I was sitting
in the White Tern, thinking about what Wintereye was saying. I’m running around
Coramonde like a monkey in a hardware store. You have to understand, I was
brought up to go from ‘one’ to ‘two’ to ‘and so on.’ You’ve got necromancy and
tiromancy and all, those other ’mancies, but I always steered clear of ’em. But
this Earnai, it was like it found me. I thought maybe I could tap
in on whatever, uh, insights I can unlock.” He made a vague gesture,