Free Hawkmistress! by Marion Zimmer Bradley

laid out for my brother.”
    “Have you not a third brother?” Alderic asked, “Is the little lad who greeted you nedestro, or feebleminded, that your father cannot give a son to St-Valentine-of-the-Snows and rear Rafael, Rael, whatever you called him, to the lordship of Falconsward? Or, seeing what Mistress Romilly can do-” his smile was generous, and Romilly blushed. But Darren said bitterly, “You do not know my father-” and broke off while Romilly was still pondering this; did it seem reasonable to Alderic, then, that she might even take Ruyven’s place at Falconsward?
    “I’ve brought fresh-killed meat for your hawk, Mistress Romilly,” Davin said, coming into the stableyard, “One of the cooks had just killed a fowl for roasting at dinner; she let me have the innards for your bird, and I gave orders for the freshest offal of every day to be put aside for you in the morning; that garbage Ker brought was from the day before, because one of the cooks put it aside for the dogs, and he was too busy eyeing the wenches in the kitchen to ask for the fresh meat. He’ll never make a hawker, that one! I swear, I’d turn him off for a sekal, and start teaching little Master Rael the handling!”
    Romilly chuckled. “Luciella would have much to say about that,” she told him, “but put Ker to feeding the pigs or tending the kennels, and surely there must be someone on the estate who has some hawk-sense!”
    Darren grinned mirthlessly. He said, ‘Try Nelda’s boy Garris; he was festival-got, and rumor speaks wide about who had his fathering. If he’s good with the beasts, it will bring him under my father’s eye, which Nelda was too proud to do. Once I suggested he should be put to share lessons with Rael, and our great Lady and Mistress Luciella had fits - one would think I’d suggested bringing the pig-boy in to dine at the high table.”
    “You should know that Luciella hears only what she wants to hear,” said Romilly. “Perhaps she thought that bastardy is like fleas, catching… .” She fumbled for the lures and lines, cumbered with Preciosa’s weight on her wrist. “Damnation, Darren, can’t you hold her for me a moment? If not, for charity’s sake, at least thread the meat on the lure - she smells it and will go wild in a moment!”
    “I will take her, if you will trust me with your hawk,” said Alderic, and held out his arm. “So, will you come to me, pretty one?” Carefully, he lifted the nervous hawk from Romilly’s wrist to his own. “What is it you call her, Preciosa? And so she is, are you not, precious one?”
    Romilly watched jealously as the hooded hawk settled down comfortably on Alderic’s wrist; but Preciosa seemed content and she turned to tying the line around the meat, so that Preciosa could not snap it away too swiftly, and must bring it down to the ground to eat, as a good hunting-hawk must learn to do; badly tamed hawks tended to snatch food from a lure in midair, which taught them little about hunting practice. They must be taught to bring the prey down to their master, and to wait until the meat was given to them from the hand.
    “Give me the line and lure,” said Darren. “If I can do nothing else, I can at least throw out the lure.”
    Romilly handed it to him with relief. “Thank you - you are taller than I, you can whirl it higher,” she said, and took Preciosa again on her wrist. One handed, she slipped the hood from the hawk’s head, raising her arm to let it fly. Trailing its lines, the hawk rose higher, higher - coming to the end of the line, Romilly saw it turn its head, see the flying, whistling lure - swiftly, dropping with suddenly folded wings, it descended on the lure, seizing it with beak and talons, and dropped swiftly to Romilly’s feet. Romilly gave the sharp whistle which the hawk was being taught to associate with food, and scooped Preciosa up on her glove, tearing the food from the lure.
    Preciosa was bending so swiftly to the food that she