Darksong Rising by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Read Free Book Online Page B

when you were barely moving you were worth more than a dozen men who can’t do
    anything but swing those blades.”
     
    “That is not the way the young ones see it.” Jecks laughed sardonically.
     
    The way Defalk was, Anna suspected he was all too right. “Do I work them too hard? Should we
    recruit some more?”
     
    “That might be wise, especially if you insist on traveling all over Liedwahr.”
     
    The small dining hall was set for two—with two three-branched candelabra providing the light.
    Jecks waited for Anna to sit. Courtesy in Defalk did not extend to seating women, merely
    allowing the highest or most noble to sit first.
     
    A serving girl Anna did not recognize hurried in with a basket of fresh-baked bread, followed by
    a figure she did. “Dalila!”
     
    The once-stocky and now-petite brunette smiled as she set the crockery casserole dish on the
    pottery tile serving as a trivet, then bowed. “Regent."
     
    “I didn’t expect you..." Anna had worked out the arrangements for Daffyd’s sister to teach the
    younger children in the liedburg and to help Meryn in the kitchen, but that had been before she
    had left Falcor to deal with the uprising in southern Defalk and the attack from Lord Ehara of
    Dumar. Lord... you lose track of things... Sometimes, Anna felt she couldn’t keep track of half of
    what was going on.
     
    “Meryn was feeling ill, but Assolan is watching Ruetha and Anadra.”
     
    “How are you getting along with Meryn?”
     
    “Very well," answered Jecks. “We’re getting some new dishes, I’ve noticed.” He inclined his
    head toward the casserole. “Is that one of them?”
     
    “Yes, ser. This is the stew you liked, Regent.”
     
    Anna could feel her mouth water. ‘That’s wonderful.” She smiled at Jecks. “You’ll like it.”
     
    “I’ve liked all the new dishes. It was one of the few pleasures left for a time."
     
    Anna looked at Dalila. “Are you sure you’re doing all right?”
     
    “Oh, yes. Dythya has me teaching letters to some of the smaller children in the liedburg.” The
    pert brunette offered Anna another smile, then turned and slipped from the dining hall.
     
    “That one... she’s another that would lay her life in front of a charger for you.”
     
    Anna didn’t argue, only nodded. You took refuge in her home, and after you rejected the forceful
    advances of her consort, he left her penniless and friendless, and his brother took everything
    because Dalila was a woman unable to hold property. You made her brother your chief player;
    and he died fighting the Evult. And now, because you pay her for cooking and teaching, she
    thinks you’re wonderful. Defalk needed more feminism than one sorceress and Regent could ever
    supply.
     
    Anna poured herself some of the maroon wine, then filled Jecks’ goblet.
     
    “Thank you, lady. It is unusual to be served by a ruler.”
     
    “Just remember that.” Anna broke off a chunk of bread, then served two huge ladlefuls of the
    stew. “What was so urgent that you were waiting for me?”
     
    “I would not say it was terribly urgent, and it should wait until you have eaten. You are most
    pale,” Jecks said.
     
    “It has been a while since I ate. Midday, I think.”
     
    “What if you had to sing a spell?"
     
    “I’d have been in trouble.” Anna took a mouthful of the stew, the spices muting the taste of the
    strong mutton. The second mouthful she accompanied with a chunk of the dark bread. Dark
    bread—they had it, and that meant someone was indeed getting molasses from Dumar—or had
    recently. Did that mean that Lady Siobion was keeping the agreement? And that all was well
    with Alvar, the captain Anna had made over-captain and armsmaster of Dumar both to aid
    Siobion’s regency and to ensure Dumar’s compliance with the terms of surrender, even if Anna
    had been careful not to call them precisely that.
     
    “You carry provisions,” he said gently, not quite suggesting that she was a