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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| 39c230f | We worked for the four days of that blizzard, loosening the mortar in the lower stones of Castle Munth. The wind and storm did the rest; after the walls fell, we melted snow from uphill with our combined Fire Sticks. The resulting flood was impressive. By the next morning, when the scouts we left behind saw the first of Debegri's soldiers march up the road, the whole mess had frozen into ice, with our ex-prisoners wandering around poking di.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 2758463 | At the best of times I don't have the kind of voice anyone would want to hear mangling their favorite songs. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 9a0dcf1 | Who can know anybody?' said the bookshop owner. 'Every person is like thousands of books. New, reprinting, in stock, out of stock, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, rubbish. The lot. Different every day. One's lucky to be able to put his hand on the one that's wanted, let alone know it. | knowledge-of-people | Russell Hoban | |
| 5b8a8ce | I'm exactly as unlikely to blab our secrets to an anonymous flunky as I am to a Court decoration with a reputation as a gambler and a fop," I said finally. "'Court decoration'?" he repeated, with a faint smile. The strengthening light of dawn revealed telltale marks under his eyes. So he tired. I was obscurely glad. "Yes," I said, pleased to expand on my insult. "My father's term." "You've never wished to meet a...Court decoration for you.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 479b356 | I crossed the garden, staying near the hedgerow borders until the pathway debouched onto one of the lovely brick streets. A quick glance down the street revealed scarcely any traffic--but way up at the other end were two tall, armed individuals wearing blue and black-and-white livery. Which meant the Marquis was somewhere around. For a moment I indulged in a brief but satisfying daydream of scoring him off as I had off the Baron the night b.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 70857cd | Then the day came when a new column was spotted riding up behind Debegri's force. We almost missed them, for we had also begun staying in a tight group. But luckily Khesot, cautious since his days in the terrible Pirate Wars, still sent pairs of scouts on rounds in all four directions twice a day. It was Seliar, of my group, who spotted them first. She reported to me, and the rest of us crept down the hillside to watch the camp below. We s.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| b97e290 | The huge, drafty building echoed with the clanks and thuds and shouts of mock battle. Khesot walked slowly up and back, his mild brown eyes narrowed, considering, as he watched us work. "Get that shield arm up," he said to a tough old stonemason. "Remember you will likely be fighting mounted warriors, and I very much fear that most of us will be afoot. The mounted fighter has the advantage; therefore you must unhorse your opponent before yo.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 55aa723 | I closed my eyes, feeling sleep steal over me; but the pleasant lassitude fled when the tent flap opened again, this time pulled by a rough hand. Cold air swirled in. I blinked up at a burly helmeted soldier. He held the tent flap aside for a much lighter-boned man, who walked in wearing an anonymous black cloak. The guard let the flap fall, and I heard the gravel crunch under his boots as he took up position outside the tent. The new arriv.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| a9c935c | When you love something enough time races ahead like the wind chasing autumn leaves, sending them skipping and dancing out of reach, no matter how fast you run. But when you want something and must wait to get it, time stops | Sherwood Smith | ||
| a5ed462 | What is your name?" It took a moment for the words to register--for me to realize he did not know who I was! His eyes narrowed; he had seen my reaction, then--and I stirred, which effectively turned my surprise into a wince of pain. "Name?" he said again. His voice was vaguely familiar, but the vagueness remained when I tried to identify it. "I am very much afraid," he said presently, "that your probable future is not the kind to excite gen.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 4c68cfa | It took one long, desperate week to prove just how wrong was my prophecy. "The revolution is not over," Branaric said seriously some ten days later. But even this--after a long, horrible day of real fighting, a desperate run back into the familiar hills of Tlanth, and the advent of rain beating on the tent over our heads--failed to keep Branaric serious for long. His mouth curved wryly as he added, "And today's action was not a rout, it was.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 7e639cc | If everywhere you go everyone watches you, and wants you, can you truly be yourself? | princess-elestra | Sherwood Smith | |
| fc11a80 | When I woke again, I was in darkness. Fighting my way to awareness, I realized I'd heard sharp voices. Yells echoed back and forth, calling commands to different ridings; from the distance there came the clang and clash of steel. I thought, elated and fearful. As if in answer, I heard his voice. "Mel! " I rolled to my knees, fighting against invisible knives of pain. One more cry of "Mel!" at slightly more of a distance enabled me to gat.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 2d9b799 | Act'. How many good people do you really know? I discount those who mouth out platitudes for the edification of the young, and who truly are 'good', whatever that means?" What a strange subject, and from such a strange person!"Everyone I know is a mixture, some with more good than bad, and it varies on different days," | beauty flauvic-acting good princess-elestra | Sherwood Smith | |
| 8e5fef3 | He caught it one-handed, set it gently back in its place. I clenched my teeth together to keep from screaming. The Marquis stepped to the door, opened it. "Please bring Lord Branaric here." Then he sat down in one of the window seats and looked out as though nothing had happened. I turned my back and glared out the other window, and a long, terrible silence drained my wits entirely until the door was suddenly thrust open by an impatient han.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| c57fb54 | Didn't Azmus say Galdran promised the Court our heads on poles after two days?" "So Debegri swore," Bran said, smiling a little. "That means we've held out all these weeks despite the enormous odds against us, and word of this has to be reaching the rest of the kingdom. Maybe those eastern Counts will decide to join us--and some of the other grass-backed vacillators as well," I finished stoutly. Bran grinned. "Maybe so," he said. "And you'r.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| f749942 | When she was done, I said, "Thanks, Ria. That's as good as an afternoon nap in the summer." "A shame you have to put it up again," she said, smiling. "It's so pretty--the color of autumn leaves. Promise you'll never cut it." "I won't. It's the only thing I have left to share with my mother, the color of our hair. And she always wanted me to grow it out." My fingers worked quickly from old habit as I braided it up again, wrapped it twice aro.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 79559ce | Khesot was looking not at the map but at us, his old eyes sad. I winced, knowing what he'd say if asked: that he had not been trained for his position any more than nature had suited Bran and me for war. But there was no other choice. "So if Hrani takes her riding up here on Mount Elios, mayhap they can spy out Galdran's numbers better," Branaric said slowly. "Then we send out someone to lure 'em to the Ghost Fall Ravine." I forced my atten.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 6164daa | When I woke the air was hot and stuffy, and I was immediately aware of being shut up in a small painted-canvas box. But before I could react with more than that initial flash of distress, I realized that the carriage had stopped. I struggled up, wincing against a thumping great headache, just as the door opened. There was the Marquis, holding his hand out. I took it, making a sour face. At least, I thought as I recognized an innyard, he loo.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| a4e294a | In silence the man reined in his horse, dismounted, lifted me down to a high grassy spot that was scarcely damp. In the gathering gloom he tended to his horse, which presently cropped at the grass. My eyes had become accustomed to the darkness; the flare of light from a Fire Stick, and the reddish flicker of a fire, startled me. At first I turned away, for the unsteady flame hurt my eyes, but after a time the prospect of warmth brought me a.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| c8a3ecd | In silence the man reined in his horse, dismounted, lifted me down to a high grassy spot that was scarcely damp. In the gathering gloom he tended to his horse, which presently cropped at the grass. My eyes had become accustomed to the darkness; the flare of light from a Fire Stick, and the reddish flicker of a fire, startled me. At first I turned away, for the unsteady flame hurt my eyes, but after a time the prospect of warmth brought me a.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| bf18c1c | One of the others bore away Nessaren's clothes, and the third opened a door for me and bowed; and I walked through, feeling like a real fool. I was afraid I'd forget about the train dragging behind me, trip, and go rolling down the stairs, so I grabbed fistfuls of skirt at either side and walked carefully after her. "Ho, Mel! You look like you're treading on knives." Branaric's voice came from behind me. "Well, I don't want to ruin this gow.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 06a9e2d | By then the man had returned and set the kettle among the embers. Then he looked up, paused, then picked up his share of the bread and reached over to put it in front of me. "That's yours," I said. "You appear to need it more than I do," he said, looking amused. "Go ahead. I won't starve." I picked up the bread, feeling a weird sense of unreality: Did he expect me to be grateful? The situation was so strange I simply had to turn it into ab.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| d8f2b17 | Did you really think you could take a few hundred ill-trained village people into war and expect anything but defeat?" I opened my mouth to retort, then realized I'd be spoiling what little strategy we did have. But then he said wryly, "Or did you expect the rest of the kingdom to follow your heroic example and rise up against the King?" Which is, of course, exactly what we expected." | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 35b196c | Report went to the King that the mysterious attack on Chovilun was by mountain raiders," he said. "So my lord must have been right about those greens." Flerac pulled thoughtfully at his thin mustache. I'd gathered, was their nickname for Galdran's warriors. "I'm just glad we didn't have to kill them," Snap put in, rolling her eyes. "Those two in the dungeon were sick as old oatmeal about being ordered to stand duty during torture. I can t.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 3562983 | So they sit like overfed fowl and watch Galdran Merindar break the Covenant by making secret pacts to sell our woods overseas?" I retorted. He paused in the act of reaching for the camp jug. "Break the Covenant? How do you know about that? I don't recall you've ever been to Court." Tell him about Azmus, and the intercepted letter, and have him send minions to make certain both disappeared? No chance. "I just know. That's all need to know.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| b205f0e | The man came around, set a cup down by my hand. "Are you very uncomfortable?" "Does it matter?" I said, and wrapped my chilled hands around the cup--which was not of the battered metal I'd expected, but very fine ceramic. Exquisite gilding ran round the lip, a stylized braid of argan leaves. "Whether it does or not, you shall have a better conveyance on the morrow," he said. "Drink your tea and sleep. We shall continue our discourse when yo.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 6752dec | We have a long ride ahead of us tonight, and you wouldn't want to regret your first good meal in days." I thought as I picked up a spoon, but I didn't say it out loud--it felt disloyal somehow. Then the sense of what he'd said sank in, and I almost lost my appetite again. "How long to the capital?" "We will arrive sometime tomorrow morning," he said. I grimaced down at my soup, then braced myself up, thinking that I'd better eat, hungry or.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| e108d50 | I was sicker than I'd ever been in a short but healthy life, so sick I couldn't sleep but lay watching imaginary bugs crawl up the walls. And of course it had to be while I was like this--just about the lowest I'd sunk yet--that the Marquis of Shevraeth chose to reappear in my life. It was not long after the single bell toll that means midnight and first-white-candle. Very suddenly the door opened, and a tall, glittering figure walked in, h.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| c807ee3 | Where are we going?" I asked as he helped me down the stairs. "Stable. One chance of getting out is there--if we're fast." Neither of us wasted any more breath. He had to look around constantly while bearing my weight. I concentrated on walking. At the stable, servants were running back and forth on errands, but we made our way slowly along the wall of a long, low building toward a row of elegant town carriages. I murmured, "Don't tell me... | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 5f2a012 | As I emerged onto a lovely brick-patterned street some of the noise I heard resolved into music. My steps turned automatically that way, and I saw an inn, its windows bright with golden light, its doors wide open. As always when I heard music, my heart felt light and the tiredness in my body diminished. This was good music, too, not just the awkward plunkings and tweetings that served merely to mark the right melody for enthusiastic but unt.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| f6ac1c4 | Awareness came back slowly, and not very pleasantly. First were all the aches and twinges, then the dizziness, and last the sensation of movement. Before I even opened my eyes I realized that once again I was on a horse, clasped upright by an arm. The Marquis again? Memories came flooding back--the dungeon, the Baron's horrible promise, then the knife and Shevraeth's comment about timing. The Marquis had saved me, with about the closest tim.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 73c8d34 | It took one long, desperate week to prove just how wrong was my prophecy. "The revolution is not over," Branaric said seriously some ten days later. But even this--after a long, horrible day of real fighting, a desperate run back into the familiar hills of Tlanth, and the advent of rain beating on the tent over our heads--failed to keep Branaric serious for long. His mouth curved wryly as he added, "And today's action was not a rout, it was.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| ca602b0 | We'll burn those old clothes, my lady--they're ruined." And she pointed to where she'd laid out a long, heavy cotton shirt, and one of the blue and black-and-white tunics, and a pair of leggings. Renselaeus's colors. "I don't mind putting that dress back on, dirty or not," I said. "I'm used to dirt." She gave me a friendly shrug but shook her head. "Orders." I considered that as I rinsed the last of the sandsoap from my hair and twisted it .. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 633a700 | So there I was, light-headed with hunger, footsore, with the perimeter of safety having closed to about ten paces around me, and the Marquis of Shevraeth standing just on the other side of the wall. At least he didn't--yet--know it. As if in answer, I heard the of footsteps on the tiled floor directly above me. Someone else had been listening at a window and was now moving about. To come downstairs? Would the searchers go to the front or .. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| d079473 | Can you second-guess this Shevraeth?" Branaric asked. "He seems to be driving us back into our hills--to what purpose? Why hasn't he taken over any of our villages? He knows where they lie--and he has the forces. If he does that, traps or no traps, arrows or no arrows, we're lost. We won't be able to retake them." Khesot puffed again, watching smoke curl lazily toward the tent roof. In my mind I saw, clearly, that straight-backed figure on .. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| b8638ab | For those first days it had taken all my energy just to keep up and not embarrass myself. But the regular food, and the rest, had restored a lot of my energy, and with it came curiosity. I said tentatively, "You know, I have one or two questions..." Amol's eyelids lifted like he was thinking, and Snap took her underlip firmly between her teeth. She seemed to have the quickest temper, but she was also the first to laugh. Both of them turne.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| e659ab3 | I take it your revolt is not engineered for the benefit of your fellow-nobles, or as an attempt to reestablish your mother's blood claim through the Calahanras family. Wherefore is it, then?" I looked up in surprise. "There ought to be no mystery obscuring our reasons. Did you not trouble to read the letter we sent to Galdran Merindar before he sent Debegri against us? It was addressed to the entire Court, and our reasons were stated as pla.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| eb1a590 | There were cushioned benches on either side of the fire, and directly before it a great carved chair. Shevraeth rose from one of the benches, making a gesture of welcome. Indicating the chair, in which sat a straight-backed old man dressed in black velvet, he said, "Father, I have the honor of introducing Lady Meliara Astiar." And to me, in the suavest voice, as if I hadn't flung a candleholder at his head just a little while before, "Lady .. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 64ae8fb | The less said about that morning's ride, the better. I would have been uncomfortable even if I'd been riding with Branaric, for my leg ached steadily from the jarring of the horse's pace. To be riding along in the clasp of an enemy just made my spirits feel the worse. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| fde1269 | The forestland thickened at one point, and without warning it opened onto a road. Fading back behind a screen of ferns, I watched the traffic. It appeared I'd reached a major crossroads. A stone marker at the intersection indicated the Akaeriki road downhill, and to the north lay the town of Thoresk. A town. Surely one anonymous female could lose herself in a town? And while she was at it, find some shelter? Big raindrops started plopping i.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| c64a617 | In a slow, pleasant voice, Prince Alaerec asked mild questions--weather, travel, Bran's day and how he'd filled it. I stayed silent as the three of them worked away at this limping conversation. The Renselaeus father and son were skilled enough at nothing-talk, but poor Bran stumbled over half his words, sending frequent glances at me. In the past I'd often spoken for both of us, for truth was he felt awkward with his tongue and was somewha.. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 44aea8d | I hopped over a little flower border. The blooms--ghostly white in the soft glow from the lamps around the park's circumference--ran up the brick walkway and gripped the stone lip of the fountain. I opened my mouth, leaned in, and took a deep gulp. And heard hooves. Boots. "You, there, girl! Halt!" Who in the ever halts when the enemy tells them to? Of course I took off in the opposite direction, as fast as I could: running across grass, .. | Sherwood Smith | ||
| 2343618 | The coach slowed. A moment later the door opened. "Countess," someone unfamiliar said. Feeling hot and cold at once, I slid from my pillow seat to the floor of the carriage and pushed my left leg carefully out, followed by my right. Then, sitting in the doorway, I looked up at two enormous soldiers, who reached down and took hold of my arms, one each. Positioned between them in a tight grip, I could make a pretense of walking. They fell in .. | Sherwood Smith |