Lady Warhawk Read Online Free PDF

obedient as Megassa
promised. The last thing she needed was for one of them to call her Aunt Meggi where they
would be heard, and create a flood of questions that couldn't be easily explained away.
    * * * *
    Actually... I'm delighted we have had as much time as we did, Mrillis said, after
Meghianna had sent him all her memories of that day's meetings and conversations. He had been
silent quite a while, and while she waited for his response, she imagined she could hear snippets
of other conversations through the Threads, from halfway around the World.
    You mean Megs could have contacted us much sooner, or our enemies could have
narrowed down their search parameters sooner? True.
    Or our spells woven around Thrarin's dreams could have snapped and unraveled
from the pressure. He chuckled, and the sound vibrated through the Threads, warming
her. He's quite strong, our boy. Brilliant. Impatient, though he shows his strength by how
well he contains that impatience. I've been tempted to link him to Braenlicach during our last
few lessons, just to see how the sword reacts to him, even in just a dream touch. I truly do believe
that his is the hand born to wield that blade.
    If you connected him to Braenlicach... Could it shred our spells? Meghianna
shivered a little, imagining all the disasters that could come from that violent sort of magic. All
the World would feel the Warhawk's heir bond, mind and soul, with the star-metal sword.
    Could he be the one to find the Zygradon, do you think? she asked a moment
later. The reverberations when he touches Braenlicach, could they be strong enough to
awaken Zygradon, so it calls to us?
    I hope not. No, I may be wrong, but I believe the Blood born of the Blood will be the
one to find the Zygradon and complete the healing of the World. In the far distant
future.
    Meghianna tried to imagine the child to be born to her brother. It was hard imagining
Thrarin interested in girls more than swordplay and sailing at this point, let alone being a
father.
    Long after the connection through the Threads closed, Meghianna sat still in her chair,
hearing Mrillis' voice in her soul. He had stayed away from her inn, stayed away from
Quenlaque altogether, except for the day he brought Thrarin to her. In some ways, that had been
the hardest part of this strange, voluntarily exile to protect her brother. Even harder than not
visiting with her father and Glyssani. The pain of losing contact with Megassa didn't even come
close to this separation from Mrillis, unable to hear his voice and watch the subtle play of
thought and emotion across his face as he talked. It surprised Meghianna to realize that now.
Well, Megassa had returned to her life, and in less than a moon, she would be able to take
Mrillis' hand and look into his eyes, and a short time after that, she would feel her father's arms
around her and hear Efrin's laughter.
    Would she be able to rest when she handed over the responsibility for the welfare of the
Warhawk's heir?
    "I highly doubt it," she whispered to the silent room. "I am Queen of Snows, after all."
The words seemed to shimmer with portent, chiming against the colored glass bottles the boys
had bought her for a birthing-day present a few years ago, and making the moonlight waver just
slightly. "I will always be responsible."
    She didn't go to bed for some time after that, but wandered around the sleeping inn,
impressing all the comforting, familiar images in her mind and heart. When this journey ended,
she would not be able to return to this place that had been her shelter and resting place for so
long. Despite all the work involved, living as an innkeeper and healer had indeed been a time of
rest. When Thrarin took his place in the World's arena, becoming Athrar Warhawk, and
prophecy again began to move, her duties would resume.
    * * * *
    Mrillis sat on a bench in front of the riverside inn and watched the company come down
the road in the crimson light of sunset. He forced himself to watch