Free Defiant Swords (Durlindrath #2) by Robert Ryan Page A

the point as she usually was.
    Gilhain bowed his head. He made no attempt to hide his feelings from her.
    “No,” he answered. “Arell will do what she can, but she
cannot do the impossible. Neither she nor the young lòhren offered any hope.
Aranloth gave too deeply of his power to save us, and he will now pay the price, as he must have known he would.”
    Aurellin put her arm around him. “Aranloth seldom got the
respect he deserved. Always he put his life at risk for others. And if the
legends are true, he’s been doing that for many lives of men. I’ve often wondered what drives him, for
surely something in his past must do so.”
    Her gaze followed the departing
healer, and then she shook her head. “But it’s too early to speak yet of death.
Once, Arell saved your own life, and there was then less hope than there is now
for the lòhren.”
    “That’s true. But she had Brand with her then. Now, she’s
alone.”
    “Perhaps,” Aurellin said. “But then again, it was not Brand
who effected your cure. She did that herself, and Brand merely saved her from
the same assassin that tried to
kill you.”
    He smiled sadly. “Ever the optimist, aren’t you?”
    “There’s no other way to live. Though I suppose some try.”
    “Well, if you still have hope, then so do I.”
    She took his hand. “Hope is good, but it can be cheated too.
From the moment Brand and Arell met, I thought they were meant for each other.
But nothing ever came of it .”
    Gilhain grinned for just a moment. “Maybe not. But then
again he reached out to her and had her teach the Durlin basic healing skills.
They’ve spent much time together, though most of it was hidden away in the
Durlin chapterhouse.”
    “That, I didn’t know. Well, perhaps there’s hope for them
after all.”
    “Brand has wandering feet though,”
he said. “There’s something in him that wants to explore, to go where he’s
never been before. I’m not sure if he’ll ever settle
down.”
    She pursed her lips. “Maybe. But I don’t believe it for a
second. He wants to see the land as you said, but he wants more to settle down
with a girl. He’d put aside his sword, his fame, all his training and ambition; he’d put aside everything to start a farm – and a family, if
only chance allowed…”
    Gilhain scratched his chin. “You mean if I set him free of
my service.”
    “That too.”
    “And what of the Duthenor? Do you think, now that he’s grown
into a man, that he’ll leave the usurper to continue ruling his people unchallenged?”
    Her eyes narrowed . “No. You’re right
there.” She paused. “But I see better why nothing has happened yet between him
and Arell. I was sure it would, but if so, he would not leave her here while he
went home. Nor would he lead her into danger. That explains much, very much
indeed. But freeing the Duthenor from tyranny is one thing; ruling them himself
is another. He might attempt the first, and if successful, forgo the second. In
fact, I think he would. He has no wish to rule others.”
    “A very interesting observation,” Gilhain said thoughtfully.
“One that I’ve also made myself.”
    Aurellin looked at him sharply. Likely enough, she knew
exactly what he was thinking. She usually did.

11. Magic, not Medicine
     
     
    Arell had time to think as she followed the
stretcher-bearers toward the palace. In the distance, the elug war drums began
to rumble to slow life once more. She was sick of them. She was sick of many
things, but she endured. And endurance had always served her well.
    Her beginnings were humble. Her prospects had been poor. And
she was too strong willed, too ambitious, to merely use her looks to attract a
husband of wealth. Not that she disdained the girls she grew up with who used
wiles to attract a partner of influence. The idea had occurred to her too, but
something else drove her. She had a thirst for knowledge, and marriage and
children would not satisfy her. Not completely, anyway.
    That