Table Of ContentSorcerer's
Apprentice
Chapter
8
by Sharon
Green
copyright
2003 by Sharon Green and ABCD Webmasters
"Driver, stop!" Deni heard Kharisse shout, which made the coach
begin to slow. A guardsman officer riding with those of his men who were in
front of the coach also heard the command, and he turned back while his men
simply slowed.
"Your Highness, is something wrong?" the officer asked as he came
to a halt beside the coach, which had already stopped. "Stopping right
now might not be the best of ideas."
"It's the best of ideas as far as I'm concerned, Captain," Kharisse
answered as Deni also drew rein beside the coach. "That's my sister on
the horse next to yours, and I'd like to speak with her. Privately."
"As you say, Your Highness," the captain agreed reluctantly with
an unhappy glance for Deni. He also waved off those of his men who had started
to come forward to keep Deni away from the coach, and when he himself turned
and rejoined his men up ahead Deni and her sister were more or less alone.
"Denianne, where have you been?" Kharisse hissed, obviously fighting
to keep her voice down as she glared at Deni. "You disappeared weeks
to keep her voice down as she glared at Deni. "You disappeared weeks
ago without a single word to anyone, and Father said he sent men out looking
for you but for some reason I don't think he did."
"Why would he send men out looking for me when he knew exactly where
I was?" Deni answered with a grimace. "He first tried to marry me
off to Maradin, and when I flatly refused to go through the ceremony he had
some of his guardsmen drag me to Maradin's house as an apprentice. Five more
minutes and I would have been gone on my own terms, but this time Father
outsmarted
himself. I did so well as Maradin's apprentice that I've now reached journeyman
status."
"Oh, Deni, that's wonderful!" Kharisse exclaimed, reaching a hand
out to touch Deni's hand. "I always knew you were talented enough to
do anything you put your mind to - But now I'm even more confused. If you
did that well, why are you riding all alone on this road?"
"I … decided I'd rather be on my own after all," Deni said
with a small bit of difficulty, not quite up to going into details. "As
soon as I'm out of this kingdom I plan to stop and think about where I want
to go next."
"I can tell you exactly where you're going next, young lady," Kharisse
said sternly with a look to match. "You're going to tie your horse on
behind this coach, and then you're going to join me in here. I'm on my way
behind this coach, and then you're going to join me in here. I'm on my way
to my wedding, which will be held in about a week and a half, and you're going
to be there for the ceremony."
Deni knew that Kharisse's idea wasn't a good one, but the guardsmen were
getting
jumpy so arguing right now was also a bad idea. Instead Deni dismounted and
tied her horse to the back of the coach and then climbed in, and once the
coach was moving again she looked directly at her sister.
"Kharisse, as much as I'd like to, I can't stay around for your wedding,"
Deni said with a sigh. "You know Mother and Father will be there to attend
the ceremony, and if Father sees me he'll start to make trouble. Do you really
want to put Gadrin's father in the position of having to decide between ordering
me thrown out or arrested and breaking the treaty almost as soon as it's signed?"
"But Deni, that's ridiculous," Kharisse protested. "If you
haven't done anything then Father can't insist on having you thrown out or
arrested."
"But I have done something," Deni explained gently. "I was
sent to Maradin as his apprentice, and now I've run away. Apprentices aren't
allowed run away, and the same goes for journeymen even though the point is
rarely mentioned. Most people who stick it out long enough to become
journeymen
would never even think of running away."
"But you did more than just think of it," Kharisse pointed out,
staring at Deni where she sat on the seat opposite hers. "Tell me why
you ran away, and I mean the real reason, not the nebulous excuse you gave
me before."
Deni closed her eyes for a moment, then she shook her head.
"Maradin … kept his word about teaching me, letting me go forward
as fast as I was able to," Deni said, the words coming slowly and with
difficulty. "Every time I did well he let me know how pleased and delighted
he was, but - He also told me that the reason I was with him was because the
auguries insisted that I had to be. Staying there would have been …
awkward when his interest was so … limited."
"In other words you fell in love with him, but he didn't share the feeling,"
Kharisse said, leaning forward to put a commiserating hand over Deni's two
where they were clasped in her lap. "Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry, and now
I understand completely. Leaving was the only thing you could do, but I won't
hear of you going off on your own right now. Gadrin and I will help you decide
where to go and what to do, and until then you'll be under my protection."
Kharisse spoke so fiercely that Deni couldn't keep from smiling. Kharisse
always had been determined to protect Deni, but once Deni had reached her
full growth it had been she who had done the protecting. Kharisse was too
decent a person to be nasty even with those who deserved nastiness, but Deni
decent a person to be nasty even with those who deserved nastiness, but Deni
didn't suffer from the same lack. She'd never let anyone say anything out
of the way to or about Kharisse, and had even used a serving tray once to
smash the face of a drunken fool who'd decided to paw Kharisse.
"All right, sister, we'll do this your way for a while," Deni agreed
after a moment, turning one hand to grasp Kharisse's. "And in case I
never said this before… Thank you for always being there for me."
"We both know you've said that any number of times before," Kharisse
returned dryly as she sat back after squeezing Deni's hand. "Saying silly
things seems to be a habit of yours, even though you've never been able to
tell me where else I would be other than with my favorite sister."
Deni smiled and did not point out that she was Kharisse's only sister. Deni
had given up on saying that many years earlier, mostly because the point was
irrelevant. Kharisse would have still been there for her even if they'd had
a dozen other sisters.
The rest of the day disappeared behind idle conversation, and they didn't
reach an inn to stop at until well after dark. Kharisse insisted that they
share a room rather than each having her own, and it took a moment for Deni
to realize that the sharing was for Kharisse's benefit rather than her own.
Although Kharisse didn't say so, Deni could tell that her sister was nervous
about her upcoming wedding. Unlike Deni, Kharisse had never … experimented
with activities usually forbidden to girls.
As Deni and her sister shared a hot meal in the inn's dining room, Deni thought
about that young guardsman she'd … experimented with. He'd been Deni's
friend as well as her lover, and when he was killed Deni was almost devastated.
She'd never expected to feel the same way about any other man, not to mention
experience even stronger feelings. And those stronger feelings had turned
out even worse…
Kharisse insisted on having Deni wear one of her wraps, and after they made
use of one of the inn's bathing rooms they returned to their own room and
talked. Deni told Kharisse what to expect on her wedding night, then explained
that the following nights would be much more pleasant. Kharisse wasn't in
the least shocked about what Deni said, leading Deni to believe that her sister
had known about her guardsman lover but had never said a word.
The next day Deni wore clothes that weren't faded and over-washed, which
made
her feel a good deal better. They had breakfast before they left the inn,
stopped at a roadhouse for lunch, then continued on past sundown to the last
inn they would stop at in this kingdom. Late the next day they would cross
the river that was the boundary between the two kingdoms, a time Deni was
looking forward to. She wanted nothing more to do with her father or anything
that was his, and maybe once she was across the river she could begin to forget
her bitterness and disappointment.
