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.Grit caught in Erin's teeth and burned her eyes and sinuses.Grime clung to the oiled links of her armor and heavy powder settled in the folds of her clothes.Though they had ridden but half the day, she figured it would take a week's worth of baths to ever feel clean again.There was nothing she could do about it for now.She was only grateful that she was not riding farther behind in the ranks, for near the rear, the dust would have been unbearable.Many warriors in Gaborn's retinue wore helms that covered their faces, and so they merely put the visors down, affording the face and eyes some small protection from the dust.Erin envied them.She imagined that even the infernal heat inside the blasted helm would have been more bearable than the dust.But her own helm was merely a horsewoman's helm, a round thing with guards for ears, without even a bridge for the nose.A horse's tail, dyed royal-blue, adorned the top.So she rode holding a cloth to her face.From behind, the sound of hoofbeats reverberated as a rider raced along the edge of the road.He glanced at Erin and made to pass her, when suddenly he spotted Gaborn and reined his horse in.The man's face was a study in surprise.Erin realized that he'd been looking for the Earth King, but King Gaborn Val Orden and King Orwynne were both so dirty that one could not distinguish them from common soldiers."Your Highness," the fellow implored Gaborn, "the troops in the rear beg permission to fall back.The dust is fouling the horse's lungs."Erin nearly laughed.Apparently these warriors of Heredon could breathe the dust just fine.It was only their horses that suffered."Have them fall back," Gaborn said."I see no reason to keep close ranks, so long as we all reach Casde Groverman by nightfall.""Thank you, milord," the fellow said with a nod.Yet he did not fall back to spread the word.Instead, he rode beside Gaborn as if he would beg another boon."Yes?" Gaborn asked."Beg your pardon, milord, but since you are the Earth King, could you not do something more?""Would you like me to get rid of the dust altogether?" Gaborn asked, bemused."That would be greatly appreciated, milord," the knight said, gratitude thick in his voice.Gaborn laughed, but whether he laughed from mirth or laughed the fellow to scorn, Erin could not tell."I may be the Earth King," Gaborn said, "and I like the taste of trail dust no better than you do.But believe me, there is a limit to my powers.If I could make the dust settle, I would.Open ranks.Have every man pace his horse.Those with the quickest horses will reach Groverman first."The fellow studied Gaborn from head to foot.The Earth King was covered in grime."Yes, milord," the fellow said, and he wheeled back, calling the orders for the formation to disband.At that point, the kings gave the horses their heads, and galloped ahead of the more common mounts.In moments, Erin was racing along and even Gaborn's scouts, at the very front of the line, had to hurry to keep ahead of the army.Erin stood in her stirrups, riding to the flank of the king, and let the wind clean some dust from her clothing and from her hair.Beside her, Prince Celinor did the same.She glanced over, caught the Prince staring at her.He turned away when she noticed his scrutiny.Erin did not have an endowment of glamour to mar her face.Fleeds was a poor land, and so by the High Queen's decree, endowments of glamour were never given.One could not waste precious blood metal on forcibles that would enhance a woman's beauty, not when the same ore could be put to some better use.Still, even without an endowment of glamour, men sometimes found Erin attractive.Yet she thought it odd that Prince Celinor would gaze at her so.He had at least two endowments of glamour, and so was a fine-looking man.His hair was platinum in color, almost white, his face narrow but strong.His eyes shone like dark sapphires.He was a big man who stood roughly twenty hands tall.A handsome man, indeed, she thought, though she had no desire to bed him.For as they said in Fleeds, "His reputation follows him as flies follow filth."Celinor's Days, who rode behind him, was remarkable only in that he was nearly of the same height as his lord.No, Erin was not interested in a sot.Last year at Tolfest it was said that Prince Celinor had gone out to distribute alms to the poor of Castle Crowthen and had ridden through the streets in a wagon, tossing out food and clothing and was in a drunken stupor, he had soon found himself out of alms, and so had stripped off his own cloth-of-gold breeches and tossed them to the crowd, much to the dismay of those mothers who had children.Rumor also had it that he was well endowed in more ways than one.It was said that he drank so much that no one was quite sure whether he had ever learned to sit a horse, for he could be seen falling from one more often than riding it.His vassals nicknamed him "Mad Dog," for often the froth of ale could be seen foaming at his mouth.In an hour they reached the river Dwindell, at the village of Hayworth.There, the lords and their Days came to a halt, riding their horses down to the riverbank east of the bridge, so that they could quench their thirst.As the animals drank, Erin climbed off her horse, gauged the water.The river Dwindell here was wide and deep, its clear waters swirling in eddies.Clouds had been moving in all day, but even behind their screen, the sun was so high that Erin could see huge trout and even a few salmon swimming in the river's depths.Erin took the cloth that she'd had over her nose, knelt at the riverbank and dipped it in the cold water, then began to wash some of the grime off her face.She longed to strip off her armor, swim out into the river's depths.But there was no time for it.Prince Celinor knelt by the water, too, and took off his helm, a thing of burnished silver.He filled it with water twice, swirled the water in it to get the dust off the helm, then filled it a third time and drank deeply, using it as a mug.When he finished, he offered his helm to Erin while he washed his own face clean of grime.She drank deeply, felt the dust clear from her throat.She'd never tasted water so refreshing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]