Elliott, Kate - Crown of Stars 1 by beni Read Free Book Online Page A

through the herb garden. All that —if they were true memories and not illusions brought into being by her own desire—had died with her mother. All she had left were memories clouded by the years and by the endless miles they had journeyed, across the sea, over mountains, through new lands and strange towns. That, and a fire always burning in the hearth.
    He barred the door behind them and suddenly bent over, racked by coughs. Recovering, he placed the book on the table and threw his cloak onto the bench. Went at once and poured himself ale.
    "Da," she said, hating to see him this way, but he only took another draught. To her horror, his hands shook. "Da, sit down."
    He sat. She set the astrolabe on the shelf, rested bow and quiver in the corner, and hung the partridges from t he rafters. Placing a log on the fire, she turned to watch her father. As she shifted, the plank floor creaked under her feet. It was such a bare room. She remembered richer, but that was long ago. Tapestries, carved benches, a real chair, a long hall, and wine served from a pitcher of glass. They had built this little cottage themselves, dug out the ground, driven posts in, sawed planks from felled logs and set that planking over the cellar, caulked the log walls with mud and straw. It was rough but serviceable. Besides the table and bench that doubled as their clothes chest, there was only her father's bed in the darkest corner and their one luxury — a walnut shelf, the wood polished until it shone, its surface carved with a pattern of gripping beasts curling down the sides, their eyes painted red.
    Da coughed again and fumbled to open the book, searching for something in the dense text written within. Moving to help him, she passed by the window. The shutters were still open, and through the thin skin tacked over the opening, rubbed so fine that it was translucent, she saw a dim light. It bobbed closer, following the well-worn path that descended to the village.
    "Someone is coming," she said, going to the door.
    "Don't open it!"
    His voice cut her, and she flinched. "What is it? What's wrong?" She stared at him, frightened by his abrupt and manifest terror. "Was that new star an omen? Have you read of its coming? Does the book speak of it?" They never called it by its title. Some words, spoken aloud, called attention to themselves.
    He slapped the book shut and clutched it against his chest. Jumping up, he grabbed his bow out of the corner, then, with book and bow, walked across to the window. Suddenly he relaxed, his expression clearing. "It's only Prater Hugh."
    Now it was her turn to shudder. "Don't let him in, Da."
    "Do not speak so harshly, child. Prater Hugh is a good man, sworn to Our Lady and Lord."
    "Sworn to himself, you mean." L "Liath! How can you speak so? He only wants instruction. He is no less curious than are you yourself. Can you fault him for that?"
    "Just give me the book, Da," she said more gently, to coax it from him. What she now knew of Hugh was too dangerous to tell Da.
    But Da hesitated. Four other books sat on the shelf in the corner, each one precious: Polyxene's encyclopedic History of Dariya, The Acts of St. Thecla, Theophrastos of Eresos' Inquiry into Plants, the Dreams of Artemisia. But they did not contain forbidden knowledge, condemned by the church at the Council of Narvone one hundred years ago.
    "But he might be one who could help us, Liath," he said, abruptly serious. "We have been running for so long. We need an ally, someone who could understand the great powers that weave their trap around us. Someone who could help us against them —
    She snatched the book out of his hands and scrambled up the ladder that led to the loft. From her shelter under the peaked roof she could see down into half the room and easily hear anything that went on below. She threw herself down on her straw mattress and pulled a blanket up over her. "Tell him I'm asleep."
    Da muttered an inaudible reply, but she knew once she had