A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,13

when I couldn’t bear to face Elynea and proud of the leader my old friend Rölly had become.

He didn’t sit on his throne very much; he tended to pace in front of it, fully engaged in the governing of the country, especially now that we were fighting for our very survival as a people. “Water which does not move stagnates,” he explained. And when he wasn’t forced to govern from (or in front of) his seat of power, he toured the city in disguise, taking only a discreet bodyguard along to “solve problems upstream” before they could flow down to him in the Wellspring.

Once she was admitted, the courier proved to be an unusually tall and striking woman, her hair pulled tightly from her face and gathered in the back with a golden torc and a pair of goggles dangling around her neck. Her rust-red leather armor—and the bard’s as well—was spattered with the guts of insects, the visible drawback to a courier’s kenning. The ability to run so fast that insects became a hazard simultaneously thrilled and disgusted me.

The bard stood a step behind the courier when she halted in front of the throne. She nodded to the pelenaut and said, “Pelenaut Röllend, I am Numa, Courier of the Huntress Raena,” in that strange formal protocol the Raelechs used: always their given name, profession, and patron goddess. She told him about the approaching armies that were supposed to join with us and mount a counterattack against the Bone Giants, which would have been very interesting to me if the bard hadn’t been there with her. I confess I missed some of the details because I was far too curious about her companion—which probably proves that I am not the best court recorder.

Bards and couriers were elite castes in the Raelech system, which allowed only seven and twenty of each to exist at any time. Couriers we saw often, but I doubted anyone in the Wellspring had ever seen a Raelech bard before. He had a pack on his back with a couple of stringed instruments sticking up out of the top, a rather full pouch of something at his belt that was far too big to be a purse, and a pleasant, confident expression that I envied. I would not be so comfortable meeting the ruler of another country.

“Very well,” Rölly said when the courier’s official message ended. “What other news do you have for me?”

“Only an introduction, sir, and a request for lodging this evening. I will return in the morning to take any reply you wish back to the Triune Council.” Numa took two steps back so that the bard was closest to the throne, and she gestured to him. “My colleague in service to the Triune and my lifebond, Fintan.” Her smile as she introduced him was proud.

The pelenaut was not the only one who had to squelch a look of surprise at that personal addition. Fintan was not conventionally handsome, and the top of his head reached only to Numa’s chin. They did not appear to be well matched, but that only increased my curiosity.

Rölly stopped pacing, netted his fingers together, and nodded once at the bard. “Tell me why you are here, Fintan.”

“I…” He flicked his eyes back at his wife, who nodded in encouragement. “I am a gift of sorts from the Triune Council.”

“A gift?”

“It would be more accurate to say I am on loan. I am to go with the Raelech army once it arrives, but in the meantime, I am to provide my services to the people of Pelemyn free of charge.”

“Your services?”

“Entertainment, sir.”

“What? Singing and dancing?”

The bard shuddered at the thought of dancing and said, “The occasional song, perhaps. But mostly it will be the tale of how we got here so that we will know where we are going.”

Pelenaut Röllend’s eyes widened. “You presume to know where this is all headed?”

“No, sir. The future always waits until the present to reveal its plans. But the past can clarify our goals for us sometimes, help us say good-bye to those we haven’t let go, even realize that we need to change. That is the magic of stories. And my kenning allows me to tell stories better than anyone else, if you’ll allow me a moment of immodesty.”

“I don’t understand. The Third Kenning is of the earth, but the Raelech blessed are known for erecting stone walls and destroying them more than anything else. How does that allow you to tell