Kedor's Match Page 3

be welcome nowhere.”

  Kedor thought for a long moment. “There is another choice,” he said. It took all his courage to suggest this.

  “What is it?”

  “I will go with you to free your father. We will make our way back to Rurik by boat and find him, wherever he is.” To go back to Rurik? He had been gone for four years, and every moment of that time, he had been glad to be away from his home, from the place where he had learned such fear. But perhaps it was time for him to face that fear again.

  “He is being held at our home. There are many guards around him,” said Jerta.

  “My brother has frequently rescued those who are surrounded by guards. I have heard tales of how he did it. I can do it myself.”

  He had always wanted to be like Kellin, and he had never lived up to that dream. Kellin was the brave one who saved the ekhono. Kedor was always the younger brother, the victim, the rescued. But now, for the first time, there was someone who needed his help, and who did not turn first to Kellin. Kellin knew nothing about this, in fact.

  Kedor was not yet sixteen years old, but he had a chance now to prove himself a man. It was not a chance he would let slip by him easily. Not when Jerta needed him. Strange, how that made all the difference. They both had neweyr, and it didn’t matter at all.

  “Heard tales? But you have never done it yourself?” asked Jerta.

  Kedor considered lying, but he had never been good at that. And besides, he wanted Jerta to care for him, and not for what he was not. He shook his head. “But I will do it for you, if you will take a chance for me.”

  “Me take a chance for you? Surely it is the other way around. And what is it you will expect in return for this favor? You want me to marry you, is that it? You have fallen in love with me and you think that this is the way to make me agree to your suit?”

  Kedor stared at her. “That seems an awfully strange way to woo a woman,” he said. “There are dozens of others who would not take so much trouble.”

  “Indeed. But there are some men who like a challenge,” she said. Her chin lifted.

  “Even men who have no taweyr?” said Kedor.

  He was sure that he saw a faint smile answering him. She was beginning to trust him, and that was enough.

  “I expect nothing in return. Truly, Jerta. I only want to help you. But you must promise me that you will not aid King Haikor in any way if I do this for you. You must not return to Rurik.”

  “I thought you said you expected nothing in return.”

  “That is not in return. That is simply the condition of my help.” It was the condition of her safety. If she could not see it clearly, he did.

  “And you do not want me as your wife, then?” she asked, after a long moment.

  This was all so confusing. “I did not say that. I only said that I did not want you to feel obliged to marry me.” What did she want him to say? First it seemed one thing, then the opposite.

  “Why would I marry a man who has neweyr, when I have it myself?” asked Jerta.

  “Why would I marry a woman who has neweyr, when I have it myself?” asked Kedor. Then he answered his own question. “Because I admire her above all other women, and because I think that she may come to like me, as well.”

  He had never been sure if love would even be possible here, among the ekhono. Certainly it would not be the same as it was in Rurik, or even in most of Weirland, where a man with taweyr loved a woman with neweyr. But perhaps it was not so different as he might have thought.

  “Hmm,” said Jerta. She twisted her lips, and Kedor stared at them.

  Then she leaned forward and kissed him, and he felt the neweyr in himself answering to hers, and he wondered that any love could live without this meeting of magic to magic. How could any man want anything else?

  Then Jerta pulled back. “That was just for my father,” she said. “And your promise. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Of course not,” said Kedor. “I never thought it did.”

  END