Free Midnight Quest by Honor Raconteur Page A

wagons moving, the guards did nothing more than pop their heads inside to verify that there were bundles of cloth and leather inside, and waved the whole train on. They passed through the north gate without more than a few moments pause.
    Only when they were well outside the gates, and the wheels had left the hard cobblestone for hard packed dirt, did Jewel really dare to breathe again.
    A fist knocked against the wagon wall behind Jewel’s head. “Still alright in there?” Sarvell asked, voice a little distorted through the wood.
    “We be fine,” Rialt assured him. “How be the roads?”
    “Clear, but we’ve got a lot of traffic. I think you and Jewel better stay put, out of sight.”
    “Right, then.”
    The air felt a little stuffy in this confined space, but not unbearably so, and it was infinitely warmer in here than out there where the wind could cut through a stout cloak. Jewel was perfectly happy to stay where she was. However, it did present the problem of what she and Rialt would do for the rest of the day. Just sitting here would become very boring in short order. On the other hand, she finally had at least one of her protectors alone without anything to distract them. It seemed like a good opportunity to her. “Rialt, I’ve never been to Ramath before. Can you tell me more about it?”
    “Eh, surely.” There was a weighted pause before he slowly admitted, “I be no quite sure how to start.”
    “Start with your family, and go from there,” she suggested, a little amused. Was he not a man that talked? “You said you have four sisters.”
    “All younger,” he responded easily, affection clear in his voice. “A feisty bunch, they be. I have always been the one to fetch them out of trouble. The eldest be set to marry this spring, the wee lass be praised. Then she will be her husband’s problem.”
    Jewel bit her bottom lip, stifling a snicker. “No brothers?”
    “To my parent’s relief, no. They always claimed it took the energy of raising five sons to raise me.”
    With his attitude about distracting castle guards, she could well understand what his parents meant. He must have been a terror when younger. “Are your parents living?”
    “Certainly. I have a passle of aunts, uncles, cousins and the like as well. Grandmother passed on some three years back, but grandda’s cranky self be still with us.” Despite the insult, Rialt’s tone held clear affection for the old man. “Most of the clan be related, one way or another. We lose men to the constant war with Daath, do you see. When a man falls, it be custom for another to take on the widow and children as his own. So if not by blood, a man be like as no related by adoption. We call it cennan.”
    Learning this troubled Jewel deeply. How many generations had they been forced to defend themselves? How many fathers, husbands, sons had they lost for them to learn how to compensate for it so naturally? She felt her heart clench and shake at the thought that adopting another man’s family could be so culturally ingrained as to be an expected thing.
    Just what had those previous high priestesses been doing?!
    She forced the question past a restricting throat. “Rialt, have so many of my sister priestesses failed you?”
    “Failed, or were removed when they resisted,” he answered quietly. “It be why I be set to guard you. I will no fail to protect the one woman that refused to cave to their demands.”
    Yes, that was true. With her alive and free, she could ensure that Ramath was always protected. As long as she lived, they wouldn’t lose a whole generation of men at a time to the Daath. The thought made her smile.
    “I must ask, what made you resist? Afore you were thrown in that cell, I be sure you had words with those dog-faced ministers.”
    “Oh, we had words alright,” Jewel growled in dark remembrance.
    “But you must have known they would no let you defy them.” Rialt’s words slowed, each one pronounced with more care than