Claudia J Edwards - [Forest King 02] Read online

  “There are worse things to smell like.”

  “Maybe. But how are you going to make a suitable match smelling like that? You can’t go on living here forever, you know. When the baby is bom, Iona and I are going to need your room.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to move out, but you had better face the fact that I’m not going to make a suitable match. Your high-toned friends won’t give me the time of day. I wouldn’t go so far as to say my heart is broken. Your friends are dull.”

  “If you hadn’t mined your reputation playing around...” Felim caught himself. “I’m sorry, sis. I didn’t mean that you weren’t welcome here as long as you need to stay. But do be thinking about what you want to do with the rest of your life, please?”

  “All right.” Adelinda inclined her cheek for a brotherly peck and turned back to the magnificent stallion still playing in the arena. What did she want to do with the rest of her life? Marriage was not a possibility. Felim was right; she had ruined her chances when she was younger. Why, once she had even had an affair with a farmer lad! That had scandalized the society ladies and their dutiful sons, right enough. Never mind that Dep had been kind and gentle and merry. She missed him yet.

  Perhaps she could take her horses—besides the stallion, she had four mares and two of last year’s weanlings—and set up her own breeding farm. But how was she to support her hobby? Her mother would doubtless give her an allowance, but would balk at the expenses of a separate ranch. There was little market for the old warhorse stock. The buyers wanted warmbloods that could win races or ribbons at the shows, or they wanted greathorses for draft. Only a few dedicated fanciers kept the old lines pure, and they were a clannish lot who would laugh at the idea of buying from a newcomer, especially one with (whisper it) a reputation.

  “I have as much courage and strength and ability as any of those old-time people. Why wasn’t I bom then so I could use them?” Adelinda cried to the bay stallion, which came over and offered some slobbery' sympathy. She slipped through the fence and buried her face in his coarse black mane.

  There was a quiet footstep nearby. “Shall I take the horse in now, miss? He’ll be wanting his feed and I’ve mucked out his stall.”

  Adelinda had been daydreaming of an adventurous trip, just she and Red Hawk, the stallion, traveling as her ancestors had done into unknown lands, dependent only on her brains and his speed and stamina for survival. They could do it, she knew they could. But where could they go? And why? There was no need for such a trip, certainly no such desperate need as had driven her great-grandmother to ride out into the unknown, and not alone, at that, but with five companions and a whole herd of horses.

  Life had certainly been simpler in the old days, before prosperity had struck the folk of the Black Mountains. There had been work to do for everybody, necessary work that meant the difference between survival and starvation. Things were so superficial now. The proper clothes, the right kind of house, correctly given parties, and most of all, the right match—these were what her contemporaries thought about.

  “Orvet! You startled me. Yes, take the horse and put him away. He’s had his exercise.” She clipped the lead rope to the stallion’s halter and gave it to the man. The horse greeted his groom good-naturedly and followed him into the stables.

  Distracted for the moment from her daydreams, Adelinda wondered for the thousandth time about Orvet. He had the manner of a city man, and was obviously educated, probably, she thought, in one of the great universities in King’s City. He had simply appeared, asking for a job with the horses, one day, driving a battered and worn farm wagon pulled by six chunky draft horses. He was good with animals, clearly liked them, and by contrast with the usual run of groom they had been able to hire, dependable and sober. He had soon been promoted to the family stables, rather than the huge horse factory that was the main commercial enterprise of her family.

  Orvet cared competently and kindly for the family’s riding horses, carriage team, and now Adelinda’s pets. He lived in a little cottage alone, almost never went into the nearby village, much less the city of Black Mountain two hundred miles away, where the family went for shopping and business two or three times a year. He spent his money on books, refused all promotions to assistant coachman or even stud manager, almost never spoke unless spoken to, and was a complete enigma as to origins and previous life. He was also completely immune to feminine temptations, or at least her temptations, Adelinda thought wryly, for she had tried to engage his attentions, even though he was no taller than she and rather roly-poly.

  Dismissing the man from her mind, for she had wondered about him many times before with no profit, Adelinda returned to the house for a bath and a change before dinner.

  “Is that you, dear?” her mother called from her sitting room as she came in the door and tossed her jacket to the maid, a pretty fanner girl.

  “Yes, Mother. I’m just on my way for a bath,” she called back. »

  “Could you come in here and sit with me for a moment? I want to talk to you.”

  Adelinda sighed. Another lecture, no doubt. “Yes,

  Mother.” She went into the sitting room and slumped into a chair.

  “Adelinda, dear, you know that I worry about you,” Marith said.

  “I wish you wouldn’t.”

  “It’s time you were married and settled in a place of your own,” Marith pressed on.

  “There isn’t anyone for me to marry.”

  “No, there isn’t,” Marith agreed surprisingly. “Not here, anyway. If only you hadn’t... But that’s all water under the bridge now,” she added hastily, surmising from the way her daughter’s face clouded up that her son had been at the girl again on the same subject. Adelinda, with her freethinking ways and her constant rebellion against the restrictions she had been bom to, was a thorn in her conservative brother’s side and a particular irritation to his lovely, empty-headed wife, Iona. “There really isn’t anyone for you to marry here, or even in Black Mountain. What I think you should do is go down to King’s City. You could rent an apartment, get yourself a boat, go to the parties and festivals, and surely meet someone there you could fall in love with.”

  Adelinda stared at her mother in amazement. “King’s City? Mother, you know I hate cities. I don’t even like to go into Black Mountain. If I married someone there I’d have to stay there the rest of my life. Where would I keep my horses? King’s City is all canals. There’d be no place to ride.”

  “Horses aren’t everything, dear,” said Marith. “You should marry and have a family of your own.”

  “Marriage doesn’t interest me, Mother. You’ll have to admit that I’ve had enough experience with men to know that I don’t want to be tied to one of them forever. I want to do something useful with my life, not just produce more little brats to do the same futile things.”

  “But you have so much love to give, dear. Look at the affection you lavish on those horses of yours. All that love should be going to a man and some babies, not animals.” “Animals are a lot more reliable and responsive than men. If you take good care of a horse, you get back faithful service. If you come to depend on a man, he dumps you for the next pretty face.”

  “Not all men are like that. Look at your brother. In any case, I think you should consider very carefully what I’m saying. To be frank, dear, I think you realize that you and Iona don’t get along and that you can’t stay here forever.” Marith picked up a portfolio from the table beside her. “I’ve made all your arrangements. Here is your letter of credit with the Guild of Beast Merchants—that should be plenty for the first year. I’ve included enough for a new wardrobe and one of those painted boats. This is your ticket for the coach to Eastend and here’s the ticket for the steamboat south. You’ll need servants in King’s City so here are two third-class tickets so that you can take a maid and a butler from here. You can hire the rest there, with a good butler to help you.”

  Adelinda stared bewilderedly at the papers in her hands. “Bu
t, Mother, these are for next week! I can’t go so soon. I’ll miss summer in the mountains!”

  “Nevertheless, my dear, I think you must go. Your brother will dispose of your horses for you. You’ll find a new set of luggage in your room. You’ll be interviewing servants tomorrow morning. Now, you must be wanting a bath, dear, so run along.”

  Adelinda looked at her mother’s loving, implacable face and turned. Blindly she walked out of the room and up to her bedroom, where she laid the papers on her dressing table, stumbling over the pile of new wicker luggage as she crossed the floor. Breathing very carefully, she stood for a while, trying to think what to do.

  Instinctively, she walked back down the stairs and out the door, crossing to the stables. She went to Red Hawk’s stall, as so often before she had turned to one of her horses for comfort in her distress. The young stallion was occupied with his evening meal, and in no mood to offer sympathy, but she leaned against his stall door and listened to the regular, soothing sound of hay being munched.

  Orvet, finishing up his evening’s chores, came down the aisle of the stable carrying a bucket and a broken halter.

  CiAudiAi. EdwARds

  When he saw the utter desolation on the woman’s face he halted.

  14

  “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

  “They’re sending me to King’s City to find a husband.” She said it quietly, with little inflection, but the bleakness of her face didn’t change.

  “King’s City is a marvelous place.”

  “They’re going to sell my horses.”

  “I see.” Grvet was aware of the ill will her sister-in-law bore for Adelinda, and also of her rather shocking reputation. He also had seen her with her horses often since his promotion to the family stables and knew how much she cared for them, and how important they were to her.

  “What will you do?” he asked.

  Adelinda made a sudden sharp motion, a gesture eloquent of despair and helplessness, and a huge tear oozed from her eye and tracked its way through the dust on her cheek. She turned away; she detested having anyone see her cry.

  Orvet, knowing that sympathy would only make it worse, went on about his chores, staying near enough to keep an eye on her but not so near as to intrude.

  Felim came striding into the stable. “Where have you been?” he shouted furiously. “Dinner’s getting cold and here you are mooning about the stables.”

  “Go ahead without me. I’m not hungry.”

  “What’s the matter with you? You should be grateful. We’re giving up most of last year’s profits to see you started well in King’s City, which doesn’t thrill Iona, I assure you, and you act as if you’re being sent into exile.”

  “I’m not going.”

  “What? You have to go.”

  “I’m not.”

  Felim crossed to her. “Sis, you can’t stay here. Iona gets so upset. We just want you to be happy.”

  “I’ll never be happy away from the horses.”

  “Yes, you will, once you find some nice man to marry.” “Felim, listen to me very carefully, and deliver this message to Mother and your poor upset little wife. I do not want to get married. I do not want to live in King’s City. I do not want to sell my horses. I am going to take my share of the

  greathorses and mountain horses and I am going to find somewhere where I can raise them in peace.”

  “But where? There isn’t anywhere for you to go.”

  “For now, up into the mountains, to let the horses graze on the pastures up there, as they used to do in the old days. When fall comes—well, I’ll worry about it then.”

  “What will everyone think?”

  “They’ll think that I’m not just a slut, Fin a crazy slut. Know what? I don’t care,”'

  “You can’t go alone.”

  “If you’ll be here tomorrow morning at dawn you can watch me.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Orvet offered hastily. For the wrong reasons, her brother was right. She couldn’t go alone. Adelinda looked at him, surprised. “I can’t pay you.”

  “I’ll pay you,” Felim said, “until she gets this mad idea out of her head. And some of the farmer folk, too, for herders and cooks and whatnot.”

  “I don’t want your help.”

  “Don’t be silly, sis, it’s cheaper than King’s City.”

  “It could be the difference betweens success and failure,” Orvet said softly.

  Adelinda considered. “Yes, all right. We’ll leave in three days. Mother’s already got a bunch of interviews lined up. Maybe some of those will want to come.” Her step was jaunty and her eyes bright with excitement as she left to begin packing.

  Chapter 2

  There was a lot of preparation needed for Adelinda’s venture. She and Orvet plunged into it the next morning. Choosing people from among the applicants for the jobs was Adeiinda’s chore. Orvet was sorting tack and equipment when they were interrupted. Felim had been talking to a potential customer; now he led the man and his entourage to the bam office, where Adelinda and Orvet were working.

  Felim’s companions were quite the strangest men she had ever seen. They were dressed in robes of soft, silky cloth, with the designs woven in. Their hair and eyes were uniformly dark, and they were... sleek was the only word Adelinda could find to describe them, as if their features and figures were less well defined than other folks’. Of medium height and medium build, they were narrow at the shoulders and hips, while at the same time they were thicker in the waist than was usual among the mountain folk.

  “Sis, this is Li-Mun, from the Western Continent. He’s come all this way to buy greathorses and take them back. Li-Mun, this is my sister Adelinda,” Felim introduced. “Let’s go have a look at the horses I was telling you about and you can talk to Adelinda as we go.”

  Li-Mun was utterly appalled. His command of the language was far from perfect; he had not understood that the noun “sister” was feminine. He stood before a lithe, tanned, smiling woman as tall as he, who took his hand and offered him some conventional words of welcome, while his mind reeled.

  Li-Mun was about at the end of his tether. Neither in

  King’s City nor along the River Groan, up which he had sailed with his little fleet of horse transports, had he been able to find the number or quality of horses An-Shai had sent him after, nor anyone willing to come with him. High summer had come and gone, and he knew that if he did not return soon, he might better not return at all than face his bishop’s extreme displeasure. At last, in the Black Mountains, he had found horses available for purchase, but these folk were even more adamant in their refhsal to go with him than the lowland people.

  Then at last he met Felim, who seemed to think his “sister” might be willing to go with him. His sister, he had said, was as skilled as anybody in the care, breeding, and training of horses, and had always longed for adventure. For a suitable fee, and if Li-Mun bought horses from them both, perhaps... Li-Mun had allowed himself to hope.

  But a woman! In Godsland, women were baby-incubators and stoop labor. They were considered to be at best semi-intelligent. They were strictly controlled from birth, through their breeding careers, and into their graves so that they might not leam enough to disprove that opinion. They were a valuable commodity; some men actually allowed themselves to become fond of their assigned wives and to enjoy the performance of their fertilizing duty, so that the life that the women led was not as restricted as the theory would have it. But to bring a woman in the role of expert mentor! Li-Mun quailed at the thought of what An-Shai would do and say.

  But wait. Maybe there were some advantages to bringing a woman. A man might be missed if he never returned, but this was obviously an excess woman, one that no man claimed as his own, and therefore one that would not be missed. And if she were as expert as her brother claimed, she would certainly be better than nothing. An-Shai could either get used to the idea, or he could think of a better solution himself.

  Smiling intern
ally behind an impassive face, Li-Mun described the Vale and all of its beauties. He was careful to leave the impression that the term of employment would be a year or less, and he offered a handsome fee. And for good

  measure, he truthfully described the need of the people of the Vale for heavy draft horses. Adelinda’s questions were intelligent and pointed; Li-Mun completely forgot that this was a mere woman he was talking to. Orvet, too, contributed some excellent questions, and Li-Mun, instinctively scenting in him one with whom he had much in common, offered him too a generous salary and wages for whatever peasants they required.

  “It certainly sounds interesting,” Adelinda said at last. “We’ll talk it over and give you our decision tomorrow.” Li-Mun bowed graciously. Felim, Orvet, and Adelinda retired to the bam office.

  “Well, what do you think?” Felim asked.

  “It would solve the problem of where to go, for this year, anyway,” Adelinda said thoughtfully. “The money would come in handy, too. How many horses does he want?”

  “Fifty, some work stock and some breeding stock. I thought thirty trained geldings, two good yourig stallions, and eighteen mares in foal to different stallions might just about suit his purposes.”

  “How does he intend to get them to the Western Continent?”

  “He’s got three little ships rigged up as horse transports. Each one can take about twenty horses, so there’s plenty of room. I think it must be really important to him to hire someone who knows about horses. He hardly looked at the horses I showed him, but he kept asking about someone to go with him.”

  “Don’t they have horses over there?”

  “Not like greathorses. When I asked him he showed me how big their horses were, no bigger than a pony. He said they were too small to ride.”

  Adelinda paused thoughtfully. “What do you think, Orvet?”

  “I think there’s something decidedly fishy about the man. He isn’t telling us everything. And he almost fainted when he saw you. I don’t think he was expecting a woman.”