Kavin's World Read Online Free PDF Page A

cowardice, I hope. I had been well trained in the arts of war, and those arts include more than the skill of the sword or the names of parts of armor.
    The one thing that seemed immediately apparent was that I had very little to fight with. If the best soldiers of Dorada now lay dead under Astorin walls, or penned up like sheep in Granorek, I had no men to speak of. Those who fled were women and children, and while our women fight well enough, I could not see making an army of them. There might be a few men of their hands aboard the ships, but not many.
    “Lady, may I rise?” I asked, and she nodded. I stood up, her ice-gray eyes on me.
    “How many fighting men are left within Astorin?” I asked.
    “A few hundred bowmen from the countryside,” she answered. “Some old men, and possibly fifty of the warrior caste, sons of various clans who were too young or too old to ride with Hogir, but who do bear arms.”
    “Gods!” I muttered, and stared out at the ships.
    “If you sail back, death waits,” she said quite calmly. It was, after all, her function to tell me this.
    “It seems so,” I said. “But why should you go with me?”
    “Hogir died there.”
    That seemed sufficient explanation, the way she put it. On the other hand, it made it even more difficult for me to act as a wise warchief rather than as a heroic fool.
    What I had been about to do was to suggest borrowing soldiers and ships from the High King of Meryon and building an army, while sending all the supplies we could gather at once back to besieged Astorin. This would be the course of wisdom, the planning of war as laid down in all the best books.
    However, I did not think I could tell the high priestess any of this, so I shrugged.
    “It would seem I’m not going to hold the throne for long,” I said, managing a grin.
    “The throne is in Astorin,” she said, pointedly. “If you die in battle, you die. All men die. There will be an end to this line in the Temple, since there are no others of your house, and the Maiden Samala will be the Widow, as I am. The serving of the Goddess in Dorada, and the Temple, which was there even before your house came, will end. You are an Initiate. You should know that temples and priestesses are not that important. The Goddess will remain, as she always has.”
    “True enough,” I said, with the trace of an edge in my voice. “Still, I’m very young, Lady, and I am fond of life. With your permission, I’ll try to live as long as practically possible… while doing my duty by my house and my people, of course.”
    “Of course,” she said, not smiling. “Now. The rite of the Maiden may not be carried out in the old way, since we are where we are. Fortunately, the stars are in the proper signs, and we need not wait. The rite may be performed tonight. Thus, when we are ready to sail back, there need be no delay at all.”
    “I see,” I said, but I didn’t. The rite of the Maiden must be performed in certain ways, usually in the Temple itself, and is full of complexities. It did not seem quite right to do it in this way. Besides, I was not especially anxious to get married, and the thought of delicious Isa crossed my mind.
    “Men are very like wild dogs, at times,” the high priestess said, in a conversational tone. She had been staring at me.
    “What, Lady?”
    “I mean that you are not in a needful state of purification,” she said, thin-lipped. “You have lain with a woman within three days.”
    “Oh.” I grew pink again. “How did you… well, I’m afraid so.”
    “The rite may be performed anyway.” she said. “But of course it may not be consummated until later, when you fulfill the needed time. I should have guessed; men of the sea always rush on shore like hogs in heat, even after so short a trip.”
    “I hardly expected…” I began, and gave up. “Well, Lady, while the rite is important, there are other matters. We’ve a dozen ships here now. If the people here will give hospitality