Secrets and Guardians: Devious Intentions by H. Chambers (summer beach reads txt) 📖
- Author: H. Chambers
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Glint came to the door; he could hear Eldin snoring. He quietly pushed the door open and walked over to Eldin, he resisted the urge to shout, 'Boo!' Instead gently tapping Eldin on the shoulder.
'Master,' said Glint
Eldin stirred and opened his eyes.
'Ah Glint, what is it?' said Eldin sleepily.
'It's the King, sir, he's dead,' said Glint.
Over the next few days everyone in the castle was busy preparing for the funeral. Eldin was busy packing, he had been surprised at how quickly a letter had arrived from King Hylaw stating his services were no longer required. Eldin thought the new King would have more important things on his mind, but obviously not. He planned to leave a couple of days after the funeral, this meant he could show his respects to the old King and keep the new King happy by not hanging around.
Glint mooched around looking decidedly fed up, he'd had to give his copy of the book to Aberrling and he was leaving Princess Ami. He had been studying the book, but for different reasons. Reading peoples body language, for him had meant trying to see if Princess Ami was attracted to him or not. He had always known there was no chance someone like him could ever really marry a princess, but emotions outweighed common sense.
A week later Glint was putting the final box in the back of the wagon. If you took out the books there would be hardly anything left, thought Glint, who was still not happy about leaving. It was still very early and quite chilly, Glint turned to wait for Eldin to appear. As he glanced up at the castle he saw Princess Ami's face looking down at him from one of the windows. She usually wore her mass of auburn hair up in a ponytail but Glint could see it was down, framing her beautiful face. He wanted to run up to her, grab her in his arms and tell her how he really felt, instead he lifted up his hand and gave her a friendly goodbye wave. He didn't even wait to see if she waved back, he turned, climbed onto the front of the wagon and stared ahead. He didn't want anyone to see he was crying. It wasn't long before Eldin was sitting next to him and taking the reins. They began their long journey to Riftdale.
Ami watched as the wagon pulled away. She would miss Glint. Thinking about all their fun times together, watching him grow from a small skinny boy into a tall skinny young man. She had loved to tease him about his lack of muscles, his unruly mop of black hair and his long 'girls' eyelashes. She kept watching from the window, not wanting to turn away, not wanting to believe she would never see him again.
From another window Aberrling was also viewing their departure. He had asked King Hylaw to dismiss Eldin as quickly as possible. He had told the King it was time the princess was ‘betrothed’, he had used the excuse that he believed the princess had feelings for Eldin's apprentice, which was true. What he hadn't mentioned to the King was that he wanted Eldin in Riftdale. Eldin’s misguided sense of his own intellectual superiority had made him easy to ‘trance’. Giving Eldin all that important information, he hoped hadn’t been a waste of time.
*
The Marven Circus was nearly ready to leave Landra. The circus had been named Marven after its founder; he had sadly long since died. He died after a particularly fine performance, he took his bow to rapturous applause, walked back to his wagon and dropped dead with a heart attack. Many considered this a good way to go. His identical twin sons, Ghale and Ebblin, had since taken over the circus. They were not identical now, due a badly aimed knife thrown by Ghale which had left Ebblin with a noticeable scar on his right cheek. Apart from Ebblin, the rest of the circus thought this was very useful and could at last tell them apart.
No longer a big circus, it was still always popular wherever it went. It consisted of Ghale and Ebblin, who were acrobats and knife throwers. Bella the fortune teller and dancer. Breaker the strongman. Mankin, the Mankin. Unlike a Nefkin a Mankin has a much gentler nature, they are not quite as big and covered in a mixture of red and brown hair. A Mankin would be really upset at even being compared to a Nefkin, being, in their opinion, far more intelligent and certainly not as savage. Mankin had been offered many names by the others in the circus, but he always shook his head, he didn't feel like a 'Tilley' or a 'Fidian' or even a 'Kalon'. Eventually they gave up suggesting names and just called him Mankin, he had just shrugged when they told him. Humans are never happy unless they give a name to everything, he had thought. There was also Snapper, a small scruffy stray terrier, who had joined the troupe one morning a couple of months ago. He had been a liability at the beginning, causing mayhem when the others were doing their acts, but with a bit of training from Breaker he was now earning his keep. They were down to three horses, Hugo the large black Shire horse with white fetlocks and Clover and Echo two pure white performing horses. Lastly there was Lowe. Lowe did not act or perform or do any readings, she preferred to stay with Mankin and the wagons. At nearly fourteen, she was small for her age and unlike Bella who had the most fabulous almost jet black hair, she had mousy lank hair and pale grey eyes. She often had a sad fearful look and on the rare times she was happy she still had a vulnerability about her. Her visions caused her the most disquiet. Frequent nightmares often left her tired and unable to concentrate. The troupe had become very protective of her, none more so than Mankin, who would spend hours with her. When she was younger they had often wondered whether she would survive, so small and fragile was she. The constant crying and sleepless nights had been made easier only by Mankin who used to cradle her in his big hairy arms while she slept. The two of them had developed a special bond ever since. Now she was older, she had managed to control some of her 'abilities', managed to block out some of the visions, her nightmares still came, but with less frequency. She was slowly beginning to master her talents. When she had said to the troupe it was time to leave Landra, they didn't question her, they just began to pack up. So having finished loading up and harnessing the horses, they headed north out of Landra.
Chapter 5
Heading out on the road leading north, Glint and Eldin found themselves following a circus troupe. They had two very decoratively painted wagons, one led by a very large horse and the other by two very pretty white horses. The two nondescript horses that Eldin had bought for the journey had spent most of their lives pulling wagons and happily settled themselves behind the circus.
Eldin paid little attention to the circus in front, he didn’t care much for them anyway. He was too lost in his own thoughts. With years of reading and learning he had created a fire in his mind which had to be fed. He worried about the rumours of an invasion, although on this lovely spring morning it seemed impossible that something so horrible could happen. He wondered if Kerdred did invade how much it would affect the Scholastic Guild, surely even someone as barbaric as Kerdred could appreciate the value of learning. Eldin thought of Daranel. The country was almost an island; to the west and south was the Meridian Sea, to the north the seemingly impenetrable Pandean Forest and to the east the Spurin Gulf. Daranel was actually part of a vast continent, areas of which were still to be explored. It was unknown as to whether there were any other great land masses in the world, some explorers had dared to venture out into the great ocean; none had returned. Sunk and eaten by gigantic sea monsters most probably.
His thoughts then wandered back to his long journey, there should be plenty of taverns and inns on the way for them to stay in. He hoped he wouldn't have to sleep under the stars too often, at his age his bones would spend the rest of the next day complaining. Sadly he realised he was bored already and they had only been travelling less than an hour.
Glint, unlike Eldin, was fascinated by the circus in front of them and hoped they would be on the road with them for most of the journey. The idea of spending a couple of weeks just with Eldin for company was mind-numbing. He had not seen the circus perform in Landra despite them being there for the last few years. Eldin didn't approve of anything that involved Glint enjoying himself. Ami though had told him all about it and it sounded wonderful. There were two acrobats, who also threw knives and juggled, a strongman, a dancer, performing horses, a scruffy little dog and a Mankin! Glint had never met a Mankin before, he could see the Mankin up ahead walking alongside the large Shire horse. Ami had described him as a giant. The Mankin admittedly was big, but not as big as Ami made out.
Later that morning another man jumped down from one of the wagons; Glint leaned over to get a better look. It was obviously the strongman, which was funny in a way as the Mankin could have probably lifted him up above his head. Well maybe not, but still in a fight my money would definitely be on the Mankin, Glint thought. If the strongman had been seen without the Mankin next to him, he would have looked very impressive with his black skin, oversized muscles and massive shoulders. Glint felt decidedly weedy when he looked at both of them. The most exercise he usually got, was carrying piles of books for Eldin.
Early in the afternoon the circus pulled off the road to stop for a rest, Glint's horses followed. He probably could have forced the horses to continue on the road, but he really wanted to stay with the troupe. Eldin, who had been dozing on and off for most of the day, didn't object to the stop either. Although he had no particular interest in the circus, it would give him a chance to stretch his legs and there was a 'call of nature' which he needed to attend to.
The troupe gathered together under the shade of a tree to talk and eat. Glint took a deep breath, plucked up his courage and wandered over to them.
'Hello, hope you don't mind if we follow your wagons, we're on our way to Riftdale,' said Glint hopefully.
A small girl came over to him. At first she looked quite serious, as if she was studying him. Her face changed and she gave him a big smile, getting hold of his hand she dragged him over to where she had been sitting.
'What's your name?' she said turning to face him.
'Glint,' he replied.
'Glint,' Lowe repeated slowly as if absorbing the name. Smiling again she turned to the rest.
'He's going
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