C. J. Cherryh - Fortress 05 Read Online Free PDF Page B

known about swords, but he had learned a little. It was all very different where Otter had lived. There had been wars in Amefel. And even the farmers had learned to fight.
    The wind blew at the windows and fluttered the fire in the fireplace.
    “When the storm blows itself out,” Aewyn said, “we could go riding.” He had a second, glum thought. “If it weren’t holiday coming. If the weather clears by tomorrow, we could do it, but it doesn’t sound like it out there, does it?”
    “No.”
    A deep sigh. “Besides, it’s a great fuss, getting the horses up from pasture, then only having to send them down again. But we shall go after. There’ll still be snow all about. And by then the merchants will wear down the snow. And then—” He had brought out the book and shown Otter this special prize of his, and now he had a keen notion what would be a great treat. “Then, after Festival, we shall go to the lodge. It’s not that far. The brook may be frozen, but you can see it all the same. We can spend a night or two there.”
    “If your father will let us,” Otter said.
    “I’ll tell you what’s not in the book,” Aewyn said, rolling back onto his stomach and his elbows, looking straight into Otter’s pale gray eyes. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “The lodge has its own ghost.”
    “A haunt?” Otter asked, duly impressed.
    “It’s supposed to be a grave from before the lodge was built, and nobody knew it was there, nor ever has found it. But late at night pans fall in the scullery, and footsteps go up and down the stairs.”
    Otter’s eyes were wide as could be. “Is it a man or a woman?”
    “Her. It’s a lady. Well, a woman. She could be a farmer or a herder. Nobody knows. But cakes go missing out of the kitchen, and everyone says it’s the ghost.”
    Now Otter looked doubtful and grinned. “I can think of another way cakes disappear.”
    Aewyn laughed, too. “We’ll stay up late and see if cakes disappear,” he said. “We just have to endure Festival to get there.”
    “Day after tomorrow,” Otter said.
    “Three days earlier than yours, in Amefel, isn’t it? And no dancing.” He understood that Otter was Bryalt, like his mother. “I like your holidays much better. But I daren’t say that, being the Prince. I have to be good. Have you tried your clothes?”
    “Clothes?” Otter asked, confused, so he hoped he had not spoiled their father’s surprise.
    “Papa sent some. For the whole Festival. Mother said so. I thought they’d have come this morning. They were supposed to.”
    “I haven’t seen them.”
    “Oh, well, they’ll be there. Probably the servants are brushing them. They had better be there.”
    “Where am I supposed to wear them?”

    “To services every day.”
    Otter wore a look of slight dismay. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that.
    “Papa says you should sit with us in sanctuary,” Aewyn said.
    “What does the queen think about that?”
    “Mother wants you there, too.”
    Otter didn’t say anything to that, only looked unhappy.
    “Papa says it will be a good thing if you come. People will know you’re my brother. You’ll be welcome. You will. You’re to walk in with us and sit with us, and the people will see who you are.”
    A small silence. “I don’t know why.”
    “Because you are my brother.”
    “I’m not, quite. It’s pretending.”
    “It’s not,” Aewyn said fiercely. “You are my brother. You will be, in public, so everyone knows who you are, and that my father and my mother agree. I heard them talking about it, and my mother says it’s a good idea.”
    “If His Majesty says so,” Otter said faintly. “I’ve never been to Quinalt services. What am I to do?”
    “Oh, all you have to do is sit when we sit and stand when we stand and stay next to me and do just as I do. The choir sings and the Holy Father gives a sermon every day. We listen, and we get up and go home. The first day is Fast Day. That’s the worst. You have to