Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling Read Free Book Online

Juggler fellow you killed?”
    Seregil grinned. “I’d be insulted if I thought you knew what you were talking about. Let’s just say for the moment that I’m acting as an agent of sorts, engaged by an eminently respectable gentleman to collect information regarding certain unusual occurrences here in the north. Discretion prevents me from sayingmore, but I assure you the goal is noble—even if my methods don’t always seem so.”
    Hidden somewhere in his companion’s suddenly high-flown, convoluted discourse, Alec suspected he’d just admitted to being a spy after all. Worse, he had nothing but Seregil’s word that what he was telling, or half telling him, was the truth. Still, the fact remained that Seregil had rescued him when he could more easily have left him behind, and had since offered him nothing but friendship.
    “I imagine you’re already fairly skilled in tracking and that sort of thing,” Seregil went on casually. “You say you’re a fair shot with a bow, and you made good use of that ax, now that I think of it. Can you handle a sword?”
    “No, but—”
    “No matter, you’d learn quickly enough, with the right teacher. I know just the man. Then, of course, there’d be palming, etiquette, lock work; disguise, languages, heraldry, fighting—I don’t suppose you can read?”
    “I know the runes,” Alec retorted, though in truth he could only make out his own name and a few words.
    “No, no, I meant proper writing.”
    “Hold on, now,” cried Alec, overwhelmed. “I don’t mean to be ungrateful—you’ve saved my life and all, but—”
    Seregil waved this aside impatiently. “Given the circumstances of your capture, getting you out of there seemed the least I could do. But now I’m talking about what
you
want, Alec, beyond tomorrow, beyond next week. Honestly, do you really mean to spend the rest of your life mucking out stalls for some fat innkeeper in Wolde?”
    Alec hesitated. “I don’t know. I mean, hunting and trapping, it’s all the life I’ve known.”
    “All the more reason to give it up, then!” Seregil declared, his grey eyes alight with enthusiasm. “How old did you say you are?”
    “Sixteen.”
    “And you’ve never seen a dragon.”
    “You know I haven’t.”
    “Well, I have,” Seregil said, swinging up into the saddle again.
    “You said there weren’t any more dragons!”
    “I said there weren’t any more in Skala. I’ve seen them flying under a full moon in winter. I’ve danced at the great Festival ofSakor and tasted the wines of Zengat, and heard mermaids singing in the mists of dawn. I’ve walked the halls of a palace built in a time beyond memory and felt the touch of the first inhabitants against my skin. I’m not talking legend or imagination, Alec, I’ve done all of that, and more than I have breath to tell.”
    Alec rode along in silence, overwhelmed with half-realized images.
    “You said you couldn’t imagine yourself as anything more than what you’ve been,” Seregil went on, “but I say you’ve just never had the chance to try. I’m offering you that chance. Ride south with me after Wolde, and see how much world there is beyond your forests.”
    “But the stealing part—”
    Seregil’s crooked grin held no trace of remorse. “Oh, I admit I’ve cut a purse or two in my time, and some of what I do could be called stealing depending on who you ask, but try to imagine the challenge of overcoming incredible obstacles to accomplish a noble purpose. Think of traveling to lands where legends walk the streets in daylight and even the color of the sea is like nothing you’ve ever seen! I ask you again, would you be plain Alec of Kerry all your life, or would you see what lies beyond?”
    “But is it an honest living?” Alec persisted, clinging to his last shred of resolve.
    “Most of those who employ me are great lords or nobles.”
    “It sounds like a pretty dangerous line of work,” Alec remarked, aware that Seregil had once