The Book of Athyra Read Online Free PDF Page B

something.”
    “Oh, did he? I hadn’t heard that.”
    “Well, it doesn’t do him any good now.”
    “I guess not. What killed him?”
    Coral shrugged. “No one knows. There wasn’t a mark on him, they say.”
    “And the Master doesn’t know, either? He was just going to look over the body when I had to go.”
    “No, he came in an hour ago and spoke with Tem, said he was as confused as anyone.”
    “Is he still here?” asked Savn, looking around.
    “No, I guess he left right away. I didn’t see him myself; I just got here a few minutes ago.”
    “Oh. Well, what about the b—what about Reins?”
    “They’ve already taken him to the firepit,” said Coral.
    “Oh. I never heard who found him.”
    “From what I hear, no one; he was lying dead in the back of the cart, and the horse was just pulling the cart along the road all by itself, with no one driving at all.”
    Savn nodded. “And it stopped here?”
    “I don’t know if it stopped by itself or if Master Tem saw it coming down the road, or what.”
    “I wonder how he died,” said Savn softly. “I wonder if we’ll ever know.”
    “I don’t know. But I’ll tell you one thing—I’ll give you clippings for candles that it isn’t an accident that that Easterner with a sword walks into town the day before Reins shows up dead.”
    Savn stared. “Easterner?”
    “What, you don’t know about him?”
    In fact, the appearance of the body had driven the strange wanderer right out of Savn’s mind. He stuttered and said, “I guess I know who you mean.”
    “Well, there you are, then.”
    “You think the Easterner killed him?”
    “I don’t know if he killed him, but my Pae said he came from the east, and that’s the same way Reins came from.”
    “He came from—” Savn stopped; he was about to say that he came from the south, but he changed his mind and said, “Of course he came from the east; he’s an Easterner.”
    “Still—”
    “What else do you know about him?”
    “Precious little,” said Coral. “Have you seen him?”
    Savn hesitated, then said, “I’ve heard a few things.”
    Coral frowned at him, as if he’d noticed the hesitation, then said, “They say he came on a horse.”
    “A horse? I didn’t see a horse. Or hear about one.”
    “That’s what I heard. Maybe he hid it.”
    “Where would you hide a horse?”
    “In the woods.”
    “Well, but
why
would you hide a horse?”
    “How should I know. He’s an Easterner; who knows how he thinks?”
    “Well, just because he has a horse doesn’t mean he had anything to do with—”
    “What about the sword?”
    “That’s true, he does have a sword.”
    “There, you see?”
    “But if Reins was stabbed to death, Master Wag would have seen. So would I, for that matter. There wasn’t any blood at all, except a little where his head hit the bed of the wagon, and that didn’t happen until he was already dead.”
    “You can’t know that.”
    “Master Wag can tell.”
    Coral looked doubtful.
    “And there was no wound, anyway,” repeated Savn.
    “Well, okay, so he didn’t kill him with the sword. Doesn’t it mean anything that he carries one?”
    “Well, maybe, but if you’re traveling, you’d want to—”
    “And, like I said, he did come from the east, and that’s what everyone is saying.”
    “Everyone is saying that the Easterner killed him?”
    “Well, do
you
think it’s a coincidence?”
    “I don’t know,” said Savn.
    “Heh. If it is, I’ll—” Savn didn’t find out what Coral was prepared to do in case of a coincidence, because he broke off in mid-sentence, staring over Savn’s shoulder toward the door. Savn turned, and at that moment all conversation in the room abruptly stopped.
    Standing in the doorway was the Easterner, apparently quite at ease, wrapped in a cloak that was as grey as death.

3
    I will not marry a loudmouth Speaker,
    I will not marry a loudmouth Speaker,
    He’d get haughty and I’d get meeker.
    Hi-dee hi-dee