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.Kellin knew very well his request would be neither popular nor readily accepted, but once they fully understood what had occurred the Cheysuli would not refuse.He was one of their own, after all.260A TAPESTRY OF LIONS 261I will speak to Gavan.Gavan was clan-leader, a man Kellin respected.He will see this is serious, not merely an inconvenience.He will know what must be done.Kellin felt gingerly at the bridge of his nose.It was whole, but badly scratched.His left eyelid was swollen so that a portion of his vision was obstructed.His clothing was crusted with dried blood.I can smell myself.It shamed him to show himself to Gavan and the others this way, but how better to explain his circumstances save with the gory proof before them?He was not hungry though his belly was empty.The idea of food repulsed him.He had eaten the throat of a man; though he was free now of the taste, his memory recalled it.Kellin wanted nothing at all to do with food.He listened for and heard the faint rustling behind.Sima did not hide her presence, nor make attempt to quiet her movements.She padded on softly, following her lir.Kellin's jaws tautened.Gavan will see what has happened.He will know what must be done.Clankeep, to Kellin, was perfectly ordinary in its appearance.He had been taught differently, of course; the keep had been razed twenty years before on the night of his birth, when Lochiel himself had ridden down from Valgaard with sorcerers at his beck.The Ihlini had meant to destroy Clankeep and kill every living Cheysuli; that they had failed was in no way attributable to their inefficiency, but to the forced premature birth of Aidan's son.Cut from his mother's belly before the proper time, Kellin was at risk.Lochiel had immediately returned to Valgaard.In that retreat, a portion of Clankeep and her Cheysuli were left alive.Kellin, gazing with gritty, tired eyes on the 262 Jennifer Robersonpainted pavilions clustered throughout the forest like chicks around a hen, saw nothing of the past, only of the present.That the unmortared walls surrounding the pavilions were, beneath cloaks of lichen and ivy, still charred or split by heat did not remind him of that night, because he recalled nothing of it.He had no basis for comparison when he looked on the present Clankeep.To Kellin it was simply another aspect of his heritage, without the depressing weight of personal recollection.Despite the hour he was welcomed immediately by the warriors manning the gate and was escorted directly to the clan-leader's pavilion.In the dark it stood out because of its color: a pale saffron bedecked with ruddy-hued foxes.Moonlight set it softly aglow.Kellin dismounted as his escort ducked into Gavan's pavilion; a second warrior took Corwyth's horse and led it away.Kellin was alone save for the cat-shaped shadow nearby.He ignored her utterly.In only a moment the first warrior returned and beckoned him inside, pulling aside the doorHap.Kellin drew in a deep breath and went in, acutely aware of his deshabille.He paused inside as his eyes adjusted to the muted glow of a firecaim, then inclined his head to the older man who waited.Gavan offered the ritual welcome in the Old Tongue, then indicated a place to sit upon a thick black bear pelt.Honey brew and dried fruit also were offered.Kellin sat down with a murmured word of thanks and accepted cup and platter- Irresolute, he stared at both, then set aside the fruit and drank sparingly of the liquor.Like the Ihlini wine, it burned his cut mouth.Gavan wore traditional leathers, though tousled graying hair indicated he had risen hastily from bed.In coal-cast shadows his dark Cheysuli face A TAPESTRY OF LIONS 263was hollowed and eerily feral, dominated by yellow eyes above oblique, prominent cheekbones.Some of Gavan's face was reflected in Kellin's, though his own was less angular and lacked the sharpness of additional years.The clan-leader sat quietly on a bear pelt before Kellin, a ruddy dog-fox curled next to one knee.His eyes narrowed minutely as he observed Kellin's state."Harsh usage."Kellin nodded as he swallowed, then set aside the cup."Ihlini/' he said briefly.He was flattered by the instant response in Gavan's eyes: sharp, fixed attention, and a contained but palpable tension.Kellin wondered fleetingly if Gavan had been present during the Ihlini attack.Then he dismissed it, thinking of the man instead.I will have more care from him than from my own Jehan."Lochiel?" the clan-leader asked.Kellin shook his head."A minion.Corwyth.Powerful in his own right.but not the master himself."Gavan's mouth compressed slightly."So the war begins anew."Kellin swallowed heavily [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]