‘Navon du Sandau,’ said Ugyne. ‘He makes Father furious.’
‘Why?’ asked James.
‘He’s a man of trade, not nobility, and even Myron, my father’s solicitor, is related to nobility: he’s the nephew of the late Earl of Silden, on his mother’s side.’
‘Are you in love with Navon?’ asked Owyn.
She shook her head and wrinkled her nose. ‘Not really. He’s interesting, if a little … strange.’
‘Strange?’ asked Owyn. ‘How?’
‘I find him staring at me in odd ways, when he thinks I’m not looking.’
Owyn laughed and tickled her. ‘That’s because you are odd looking.’
She playfully slapped his hands away. ‘But he’s interesting. He’s very attractive, and intelligent, and he says he’s been everywhere. And he has a great deal of wealth, which is the only reason Father hasn’t ordered him whipped out of town by the guards. If I can’t marry nobility, Father will settle for wealth.’
‘Are you going to marry this Navon?’
‘Probably not,’ she said, jumping out of Owyn’s lap. ‘He’s too ardent and … dangerous.’
‘Dangerous?’ said Gorath, speaking for the first time to the girl. ‘I know little of your customs, but isn’t that an odd term to describe a suitor?’
She shrugged and replied, ‘I don’t know. He’s fascinating, if a little odd at times, and he’s taught me a few things.’
‘Oh?’ asked Owyn, his voice registering both curiosity and disapproval.
She punched him in the shoulder. ‘Not that, you evil boy! He’s taught me about things like poetry, music, and he’s taught me to play chess.’
‘Chess?’ asked Owyn, casting a glance at James.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He’s the finest chess player in Kenting Rush, probably in the entire area. He travels to Malac’s Cross regularly to play against the best in the Kingdom at the Queen’s Row Tavern and has played against nobles in Krondor and Great Kesh!’ Her description indicated some pride in the claims.
‘Well,’ said James. ‘Perhaps we can meet him some time.’
‘Come to supper on Sixthday and you can,’ she said. ‘He’s coming to see me by the end of the week!’
With a laugh and a half-twirl that set her skirt swirling around her knees, she turned and half-skipped, half-walked to the door. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at Owyn and left.
Gorath said, ‘The women of your people are … interesting.’
James laughed. ‘She’s young. She’s working a little too hard at being vivacious.’ He shook his head in appreciation. ‘But give her a couple of years and she won’t have to work. She’s quite the charmer.’
Owyn sighed as he leaned back in his chair. ‘She’s the only member of my family I ever really cared for around here.’
Peter the Grey arrived with their food and as he set the table, Owyn said, ‘I never knew my cousin Neville – he died when I was young – and I had only seen him once before that.’
Peter interrupted, ‘Baron Corvallis’s Neville? You said you were in to see him, young sir, but nothing about being his nephew.’
‘Sorry,’ said Owyn. ‘I wasn’t trying to hide the fact.’
‘You’re young Owyn,’ he said. ‘You don’t remember me, do you?’
Owyn said, ‘Sorry, but I don’t.’
‘I was one of the cooks up in the keep, before that tragic day when young Neville died. You were only six or seven back then, and I only saw you once or twice when you visited. I bought this inn not long after, and you never stopped in before today. The old Baron, well, it changed him. He was a different man after that, but it killed his wife.’
‘I don’t remember much about it,’ admitted Owyn.
Peter needed little prompting to gossip and said, ‘Well, the story goes that there was some difficulty between the Baron and the master builder he hired to work on the lower caves and tunnels as he expanded his wine cellar. The odd thing was he was also named du Sandau, like Navon.’
James and Owyn exchanged glances.
Peter went on. ‘Well, this Sandau was the finest stonemason in the region, but he was also a drunk and a womanizer; rumour is he had his way with many of the ladies of the court down in Rillanon before coming north.
‘He worked on several portions of the old run, under the keep, and usually the Baron was happy with the work. But this wine cellar, for some reason, had problems. They argued and the Baron was always in a foul temper.
‘Then came that black day.’
‘The day Neville died?’ asked Owyn.
‘Yes, it was the same accident that killed Sandau. The ceiling collapsed. No one knew why. All the men in the area struggled for days to remove the rubble, but it was to no avail; Neville and the workers in the room died.’
‘What was the boy doing in the room?’ asked Gorath.
‘No one knows. He liked to watch the masons, and his father didn’t object.’ Peter shrugged. ‘But the Baron’s never been quite the same since then. And the loss of the boy killed the Baroness, I will avow. She mourned for months, then got sick, and even the healing priests from the temples couldn’t keep her alive. She died a little more than a year after. Before the boy died, she was a woman of unusual steel. Ugyne’s like her; it’s what kept the girl sane, I think, losing a brother and mother within a year.’ Peter shook his head in sympathy as he recalled the girl’s pain. ‘She’s managed to turn into quite a special person, by my lights.’
James nodded as Owyn said, ‘She is, no argument.’
Peter left and James said, ‘This family of yours has had its share of tragedy.’
Owyn said, ‘I know. But Ugyne seems to have found some happiness.’
‘Even if it’s only tormenting her father,’ said James, and even Gorath laughed at that.
‘Well, then,’ asked Owyn, ‘what are we to do?’
‘I think we have dinner with your uncle on Sixthday and I think we see if someone here wants to play chess.’
Owyn nodded and sat back, content to rest a few days before the next conflict.
• TEN • (#ulink_c746f78b-4dee-54ab-9b5d-16759eb291ab)
Nighthawks (#ulink_c746f78b-4dee-54ab-9b5d-16759eb291ab)
WATER THUNDERED DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE.
James, Gorath and Owyn sat on their horses near the base of the falls. With a few days to fill in between their discussion with Ugyne and their coming supper with her father on Sixthday, James had decided to scout around. He had made sure the talkative Peter the Grey knew they were heading down the road on business, but as soon as they had cleared the precinct of Cavell Village, they had turned off the road to investigate Cavell Run.
