Free Avalyne Series 01: The Queen of Carleon by Linda Thackeray Page A

Celene. She was a farmer's wife whose days were spent cooking, cleaning, growing vegetables on their farm and occasionally going into the village to hear the latest gossip. She had no doubt that he would have considered none of these skills terribly useful if one was embarking on a quest to fight an opponent planning on hijacking an infant’s soul and replacing it with the spirit of a god.
    This moment was what she had been waiting for . The words had escaped her lips before there was any time to consider how she would embark upon the quest with Arianne without Tully protesting her participation. Fortunately, the urgency of the situation required secrecy and they would have to be away from Sandrine without revealing the intention to anyone which suited Keira fine. The less Tully knew the better.
    Keira knew that Arianne and Celene probably expected her to turn back and return to Sandrine. They may even be relieved, she thought silently. After all, what was she but a provincial woman of the Green who spent her days growing things and looking after the needs of her husband? She had stood on the periphery of world changing events while they had been in the thick of it. Save for that one incident with the Disciples, Keira had little to do with the defeat of Balfure.  She was certain that they expected her to turn back before they were even half way there.
    Except that she wouldn’t. She had joined this quest for a reason.
    Like Ce lene, Keira had no chance to say goodbye to Tully or even give him some semblance of a veiled farewell the night before. He was properly drunk by the time she’d dragged him from under a table in the Great Hall,  having drunk himself into a stupor with Ronen, Kyou and Aeron. Fortunately, the magii Tamsyn who was also retiring for the evening, came to her aid in helping her take almost unconscious husband back to their chambers.
    Tully had fallen face first into the clean sheet of the enormous mattress, his legs dangling over the side, muffled snores escaping him and completely oblivious to the two people staring at him.
    ‘ If his head feels like the inside of a drum tomorrow, he’ll have no sympathy from me,’ Keira snorted as she turned to Tamsyn, ready to thank him for his help.
    ‘ Will you be here for that?’ He asked, his dark eyes boring into her.
    Keira’s voice caught in her throat and she glanced anxiously over her shoulder at Tully even though he was in no state to have overhead  anything. Facing the magii once more, she tried to recover her composure and respond but it was he who spoke again.
    ‘ Are you sure this is what you want to do?’ Tamsyn asked staring at her hard, like he could see something inside her no one else could.
    Tamsyn had caught her off guard and Keira was still uncertain how to respond. She did not wish to betray Arianne’s plan to the magii and then again, she realised that it was because he was a magii that he knew what they were intending. After all, it was for nothing that he was the greatest wizard in the land. 
    Collecting herself, Keira finally replied.  ‘Yes I need to do this. I'm not getting better and if I leave it any longer, I never will be.’
    ‘ I suppose there is no changing your mind from this course,’ he still gave her that hard stare. ‘I can sense the shadow inside you, it is thick and blind me somewhat. However, you prevailed against the Disciples I am told and that is not easily done. Perhaps there is darkness in your soul but you most certainly are not weak as people believe.’
    Keira did not speak to that, she was considering his words, trying to determine what he could really see and what he was just assuming.
    Whatever his intention, his words stayed with her for many hours that night.
    *****
    When they left Sandrine, the city was bathed in the amber glow of dawn after the sun beginning its ascendance in the morning sky. On their way out, they noted the silence as they rode along the cobblestoned streets. Most of