Natural Ordermage Read Online Free PDF Page B

sleep it off. Quelerya was on her way from Feyn. They were to be consorted, but Lieran was gone before she arrived.”
    “And she just stayed?”
    “Why not? Alamat’s not as young as he used to be, and Lieran was their only boy. Quelerya’s a good weaver. Your mother says she never wanted children anyway. If she were younger, she’d be a good catch for you.”
    Ax-faced Quelerya? Whose tongue was as sharp as her nose and eyes? Rahl repressed a shudder.
    “I’d like you to take the letter down to the portmaster right now. Alamat’s already paid for it, and Hyelsen is expecting it from either you or me. There’s a Suthyan trader coming in, according to the ensign she flying, and they usually run straight from here to Brysta, then Valmurl.”
    Rahl cleaned his pen and set it aside, then rose from his stool. He was more than happy to run the letter down to the port. Much as he didn’t mind copying, he did get stiff sitting on the stool all the time, and he now had a way to stop by the chandlery and see Fahla without his parents being the wiser.
    “No detours through the orchard on the way back, either,” added Kian.
    “No, ser. I won’t be headed to the orchard.” He still wished they wouldn’t keep harping on the orchard and Jienela. At least they didn’t know about Fahla,-or they’d be telling him not to stop at the chandlery as well.
    Kian handed Rahl -the parchment envelope with the Wue wax of a scrivener that held the imprint of Alamat’s simple seal. The outside bore the inscription: Lieran, Weaver, Portmaster, Valmurl, Austra.
    “Don’t be long. You’ve got copying to do.”
    “Yes, ser.” Rahl inclined his head, then slipped out through the door. He closed it quietly. The air was warm and still, the sky hazy, and the afternoon would be warmer than usual for midspring, almost like summer, Rahl suspected.
    Envelope in hand, he turned northward and headed down the gray-stone-paved street that led from the orchard and craft houses on the slopes south of the town down toward the center of Land’s End. His sandals scuffed the stone, and the fine sand filtered around his toes. He would have liked to have boots, but decent boots were too expensive for a scrivener. ‘ Within half a kay, the dwellings and shops were closer together, and even the gardens beside the dwellings were narrower. Before long, the street intersected the avenue that led to the harbor. After dodging behind a wagon heaped, with coal, Rahl crossed to the east side and headed north. If he had turned the other way, he soon would have reached that point where the avenue became the High Road that stretched the length of Reduce, all the way from Land’s End to Nylan in the south.
    He walked through the crafters’ quarter, passing first a tinsmith’s, and then a cabinetmaker’s, and beyond that the shuttered windows and closed doors of a shop that Rahl thought had been an apothecary, but it had been closed for years.
    Behind the crafters’ shops, on the low rises to the east, overlooking the avenue, were a handful of grander two-storied dwellings, surrounded by walls with iron gates, behind which were vast gardens and fountains. They belonged to ship-owners and factors. At least, that was what Khorlya had told her son.
    As Rahl walked northward on the wide avenue that was the northern end of the High Road, the closer he got to the harbor piers, the more wagons and carts appeared. Still, there were probably less than a score in the two or three hundred cubits before the avenue reached the base of the piers. Voices rose over the creak of wagons and the clopping of hoofs on the stone pavement.
    “… careful with that team!”
    “… got a consignment of fruitwood logs from Naclos… tell you, those are rare… Druids don’t cut many…”
    “… need to be here when they port. Suthyans travel fast and keep cargoes dry, but they’d just as soon sell to whoever offers a single silver more than you… contracts not worth the paper