Kirith Kirin (The City Behind the Stars) Read Online Free PDF Page A

him other things as well, and one of them was the test with the horse. Next morning Lord Illythin told his dream to my lord. My lord knows me and my kin and summoned me, telling me I was to test my nephew Jessex with the son of the King Horse, and if Jessex could ride the horse, I was to bring him to serve the shrine of YY in Arthen.”
     
    I could tell by the way he was saying, “my lord,” that he did not want to say the name. In the silence that followed I could have counted every crackle of the fire. I watched only my uncle, being afraid of every other face. After a while Father said, sadly, “Praise the Eye. We have nothing to offer Jessex here. You know all the land has to go to Sim.” He looked at Mama.
     
    Mama said, “I can’t fight an oracle, can I?”
     
    “No one will force you to give him up,” Uncle Sivisal said.
     
    Mama gave me a long, calm appraisal. “I’m only sad. I’d give up more than one son to the service of Kirith Kirin.”
     
    Father went pale and embraced her. “That isn’t a good name to say out loud, even in the house.”
     
    “I guess she’s entitled,” Sivisal said, looking at me. “Well, Jessex, will you be ready to ride away with me in the morning?”
     
    “So soon?” Mama asked.
     
    “I can’t stay out of Arthen long. There are too many patrols. And the shrine is dark in Arthen until Jessex comes.”
     
    Mama drew up tall, gesturing me close. For a long time she simply studied me with sorrowful eyes, lips moving on the words to some song I could not hear. Her cool hands brushed my face with patterned gestures, as if she were memorizing my features. “What do you think, little man? Do you want to live in the Woodland? Where you’ll forget your mother altogether?”
     
    “Oh no, I don’t think I would forget you.”
     
    She looked at Father and Uncle Sivisal. “I’ve some things to teach him before he goes. Please excuse us both.”
     
    Sivisal and Father looked at her curiously. She gave them each a smile and we disappeared into her room straightaway, where she closed and locked the door.
     
    As is the custom among Jisraegen of means, mother and father kept separate bedrooms linked by a single door. Mother’s room smelled of the scented soap with which she washed her hair. We children were not allowed inside this room and even Father had to knock. I thought it splendid with its woven tapestry hanging at the head of the feather bed, its fine collection of lamps and glass vases, heirlooms of my mother’s family. In the warm light of the globe lamp she embraced me, her expression growing grave and clouded. The smell of her hair was wonderful, like perfume, and her warmth overwhelmed me. “When I was waiting for you to be born I had a conviction you would cause me more sorrow than all the rest of my children combined. It will be true, you mark my words. I’ve known this was coming; I won’t tell you how.”
     
    “What will I do in Arthen?”
     
    “Serve in the shrine, light the lamps of worship, and sing the evening and morning songs. You’ll work very hard. If you follow the path, you’ll be a priest yourself one day.”
     
    “I don’t think I’ll like that. I want to be a soldier like Uncle Sivisal.”
     
    “Priests go to wars too. Don’t you remember Grandmother’s stories about Lord Illythin?”
     
    “Does he have a horse of his own?”
     
    She laughed at my silliness. “Lord Illythin has many estates and many horses, maybe more horses than you could ride in one lifetime.” She held me tight. “Will you be sad when you don’t see me any more?”
     
    “Yes ma’am, very sorry.” At the thought, which was new, I became disturbed and thought I might cry. She kissed me and said, “Well you won’t need to be sorry. I’ll always be here in the same places you remember, and I’ll clean the linen on the eighth day and make the cheese on the fourth. Wherever you are I will think of you and love you and feel proud that my Jessex is