Page 26 of Oath of the Wolf
“No, lady,” Lena answered, head remaining firmly down.“They followed me here.”
Brynn straightened.The three young men appeared to be approaching them directly.
“Lady Brynn!”called one of the men in the front, shading his eyes against the rising sun.“Is that you?”
Brynn saw no point in lying.“Yes.Why were you following my interpreter?”
The leader spread his hands toward Brynn in the universal gesture of peace.“I knew my sister was to send you a servant.It seemed the easiest way to find you.”
“Your sister?”
“Tullia.”The young man drew closer, keeping his hands in sight.“I am Tolvir.We met briefly yesterday.”
Up close, Brynn now recognized him.“Yes.”She inclined her head.
Brynn hadn’t realized Tolvir spoke Hyldish.His mastery of the language seemed shakier than his sister’s, but she could understand him.
The two youths at his sides appeared to be about his same age, dressed in embroidered tunics with iron arm rings.Belts of ornately patterned tablet weaving lashed their waists in addition to their leather knife belts.They were wealthy young men, probably his companions.
Lena drew back from them.Esa did not.
Esa knew as well as Brynn that if it came to real danger, all three boys wore no armor, and their woolen tunics would be short work for Brynn.
“If you seek my husband, he is with your father this morning.”
Tolvir cleared his throat.“You are a sorceress, yes?”
Brynn thought that common knowledge.“I am.”
“You can heal illness, yes?”Tolvir shuffled, glancing at one of his companions.
Brynn chose to be honest.“Some things, yes.”
“I would ask a favor from you.”Tolvir adjusted his hand on the hilt of the dagger at his hip, leaning back with an air of forced nonchalance.
“A favor?”
“For a lady in the king’s household.”
Brynn inhaled a slow breath to hide her apprehension.“And who is this lady?”
“Gistrid, concubine to the king.”
Brynn’s instincts flinched at that.The king’s concubine needed healing?It was not terribly suspicious by itself, but Brynn was all too familiar with the intrigue and politics that could be tangled up with the consorts of kings.Her own mother had been concubine to Eormenulf.
“I see.”If Brynn refused, she might be denying a woman the only help she could get.Many ailments, injuries, and illnesses could only be addressed with the help of a sorceress.“Where is Lady Gistrid?”
“She is in her longhouse,” Tolvir explained.“I could take you there.”
Brynn hesitated.There didn’t seem to be a reason to refuse, but a nagging feeling told her she was missing something.
“Lady?”Esa saw her hesitation and looked askance.“What’s wrong?”
Brynn inhaled.Perhaps she should have accepted Vana’s invitation to the queen’s weaving house today, then she might have had Vana for advice.But Vana had said no one else there would speak Hyldish, so Brynn had declined for fear of offending someone by accident.“Lead the way.”Healing wasn’t something Brynn liked to withhold, even if she needed to be careful.
Tolvir smiled, his shoulders relaxing a little.“We are grateful.This way.”
Esa collected Guin, who squirmed and whined, so Brynn stooped to take her.
