The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip Read Free Book Online Page B

twitching a little. “Is he yours?”
“Yes. He is good protection for a lonely woman.” She gave Ter a single word: Off, and he moved after a moment to the wall behind her. The King drew a soundless breath.
“I have never seen one of that size. I wonder that you do not fear him.”
“Surely you understand power.”
“I do. But...” His voice softened; a little, frayed smile came into his eyes like moving water behind a film of ice. “I am always a little afraid of those I have even that much power over.”
Nyl and Tam, slowed to a silent walk, reached them, their eyes slipping warily over the faces of the King’s guards.
“Sybel,” Tam said, and Drede turned. “Maelga wants you.” He reached out instinctively to soothe the King’s horse, a question in his wide eyes, and Sybel said gently,
“This man is from Mondor; he has come in search of someone he lost.”
Nyl came to stand beside Tam, his breath pulsing white in and out of the air. The King said to them, “Do you know of a boy your own age living on the mountain who was not born here?” Nyl shook his head, and the King’s eyes flicked to Tam. “Do you? There will be a reward.”
Tam swallowed. His hand moved slowly up and down the horse’s velvet neck. “No,” he said at last. His voice caught, and he said again, “No“ The King’s iron brows knit a little.
“What are your names?”
“I am Nyl,” said Nyl. “This is my brother Tam“
“Your brother? You do not look alike.” He touched a strand of Nyl’s black hair, fallen across his bony, freckled face, loosed from his cap.
“We never did,” said Tam. And then he was still as the King’s hand touched his head, pulled back the hood of his cloak to reveal his ivory hair.
Ter Falcon gave a cry behind them. The King lifted Tam’s face with one hand and Tam’s mouth shook. Then it pulled into a smile that blazed across his eyes. The King closed his eyes. He loosed Tam and turned to Sybel.
“I must speak to their mother. Has she told you anything of her sons? Anything strange?”
“No,” Sybel said. “Nothing. They are simple children.
The King’s eyes held hers for a long moment. “What do you know of this truly, I wonder, you who know me. I think perhaps I shall come to see you again.” He turned, put a hand on Tam’s shoulder. “Take my horse. Lead me to your home.”
“Our mother is not home,” Nyl said suddenly. “She went to help Marte, who is having a baby. Shall I get her?”
“Yes. Go,” said Drede, and he ran ahead of them swiftly through the trees. Tam turned the horse, murmuring to it. He gave Sybel one flash of his white face as they left. She turned and went back through the garden into the still house, to the domed room where she sat, her hands quiet in her lap, her eyes unseeing.
Tam came back after a long while. He went to her silently, crept close to her under the fall of her long hair as though he were a small child again. For a long time he was silent. Then he said softly,
“Nyl ran ahead, and told his mother what lie we told the King. So—he left unsure of me. Sybel—”
She felt him trembling. “What, Tam?”
“He—we talked a little. He—” His head dropped suddenly onto her knees. Her hand moved gently over his hair as he cried, his hands crumpling her skirt. He quieted finally, and she lifted his face between her hands.
“My Tam, it is not such a terrible thing for a boy to want his father.”
“But I love you, too! I do not want to leave you, but—I wanted—I wanted—to say I was his son and watch his eyes—to see if he was pleased with me. We talked of Ter—he said it was a marvelous thing that I was not afraid to hunt with him.” He stared up at her, heavy-eyed, desperate. “I do not know what to do. I want to stay and I want to go. Sybel— If I go—would you come?”
“But Tam, what would I do with the animals?”
“You must come! Bring the animals— Sybel, he would want you to come— Coren wanted you— You could do things