Chapter One
Ciara was playing in her secret cave in the cliff when the rider came.
She recognized him at once. It was her brother Larian come back from
distant Kars. He was studying as apprentice merchant with an old friend
of her father's. But why was he home? She scrambled down from her cave
to where she could swing across from one tall elm to another. From there
she could reach her bedroom window at the back of the garth. She
clattered down the stairs calling, "Larian, Larian, Mother! Larian's
home!"
Her parents popped out of the cook room, both looking startled. "It
can't be." Her mother sounded worried. "He isn't due home again until
Year End."
Her father was practical. "Well, my love, we'd better go and see." But
before they could move toward the front of the garth, Larian came
striding through to meet them. His face was white with exhaustion under
the brown, and his eyes haunted. He wasted no words.
"Yvian's gone mad. He's ordered the three-times Horning for all of the
Old Blood. I took Falco's relay and came by the mountain paths. The
guards will be right behind me. Half of them were f ... read full excerpt from: Ciara's Song ebook
