Covenants Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    I nodded and went to Suiden's tent, entering at the captain's command. The first thing I saw after my eyes had become accustomed to the interior gloom was the silver tea service. I blinked. My ma had one like that, one of the few things that she brought with her from her former life. I sat down on the rug between Laurel Faena and Groskin, and was handed tea in a delicate porcelain cup on an equally delicate matching saucer. Groskin offered me a bowl of lemon slices and then, after I took one, a sugar bowl and tongs. When I was finished, Groskin placed the bowls on the matching tea tray. As I selected a silver teaspoon and stirred my tea, I watched Groskin pour a cup for Laurel, struggling with the lieutenant being mother. Glancing down, I touched the rug—it looked like a Perdan. It was strewn with fat needlepoint pillows, and the walls of the tent were hung with tapestries. I grinned, thinking that our captain knew how to travel.
    "Something amusing, Lieutenant?" the captain asked.
    I stopped grinning. "No, sir. Just enjoying the tea, sir.” Captain Suiden lounged back against a pillow, looking very much at ease. "All right, Sro Faena, why are you here?”
    Laurel took a dainty sip. "I am on my way to see the king.”
    The captain, Lieutenant Groskin and I all stopped whatever stirring, drinking or fidgeting we were doing and stared at the Faena. He stared back, bland and benign, and took another sip of tea.
    "The king," Suiden repeated.
    "Yes," Laurel replied.
    "Our king," the captain said, looking for clarification.
    "Yes.”
    "Jusson IV, also called 'Golden Eye,' who, at this present time, resides in the Royal City of Iversly."
    Captain Suiden wanted to be absolutely sure.
    "Yes, that king."
    "I see. Any particular reason why?”
    Laurel looked at me. "Do you remember, Lord Rabbit, the fur trappers in your Weald some years ago?"
    "Yes," I said. "Honor Ash Faena, uh, remedied that.”
    "So she did. It was an isolated incident, no?" Laurel asked.
    "Yes." I stifled a shrug. "As far as I remember, it was the first time something like that happened. And the last.”
    "It's a true memory you have, Lord Rabbit," Laurel said. "But you've been gone how long?"
    "Five years, Laurel Faena.”
    "Not a great amount of time, yet what would you say if I told you that since you left we've had not only trappers, but fellers, slavers, hunters, and other runners raiding throughout the Border?"
    I blinked. "Uh—”
    "One hunter even managed to reach Dragoness Moraina's lair." Laurel took another dainty sip. "We buried what we could find of him in one of Cobbler Rosemary's shoe boxes."
    We all paused to consider the image that arose.
    "What's a feller?" Groskin asked, after a moment.
    Laurel waved a paw at me.
    "Fellers are tree runners," I said. "Border hardwood is considered premium in southern markets."
    "Logging is illegal in the Border?" Groskin asked.
    "Yes, sir. Cutting down a tree kills its sprite.”
    Captain Suiden's and Groskin's eyes shifted around the tent, looking for things made of wood. They both settled on the tent poles.
    "Don't worry, you have no spritewood," Laurel said. He touched his staff that lay behind him. "And this was given to me by an oak sprite whose tree is very much alive. Her sister, however, didn't fair so well.
    Fellers got her.”
    Captain Suiden set his empty cup down. "It seems that there's a serious problem in the Border.”
    Laurel nodded. "A very serious problem." He looked at me. "You know the delicate balance there, Lord Rabbit?”
    Delicate balance? It was a bull dancing on a thin rope strung between two high poles. With no net. "Yes,"
    I said.
    "Everyone with their own idea of how the universe runs and how that should play out on their patch of earth, no?"
    "Yes," I said again.
    "And how hard it is for anyone to agree on anything, let alone have a consensus?” I nodded. The memory of my da's frustration with both the Area Weald and High Councils rose up again.
    "The High Council did reach