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trifle. It was silly to be so nervous. Sir Andre and Sir John loved her dearly. Although they would curb the foolish impulses her youth bred, they would not permit her to be ill-usedeven by a queen. The faint smile faded. That very fact placed a heavy obligation upon her. Alinor knew she would need to be very clever and very circumspect, indeed, to get her own way and not bring harm upon her loyal vassals. |
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A flicker of movement drew her eye. From the rise of ground upon which Alinor's troop waited, the track snaked downward. Alinor strained her eyes and, in a moment, swallowed. The flicker had resolved itself into flashes of sunlight from the armor of a troop even larger than her own coming toward them at a brisk pace. Sir Andre's whistling stopped abruptly. A sharp word brought his men to full alert. Almost certainly the oncoming group was the Queen's cortege, but it was not impossible that a desperate last attempt by a neighboring baron might be made to capture so rich a prize before it fell into royal hands. |
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Another order brought a single man out of the troop to ride forward at a full gallop. Alinor took a firmer grip of her reins, listening to the familiar sounds of men loosening swords in their scabbards and swinging shields from shoulder to arm. The anxiety did not last long. A few minutes showed a single rider spurring forward from the oncoming group to meet Sir Andre's messenger. The riders stopped and spoke, then each continued on his way. Sir Andre's man knew his master too well to take another's word for evidence. He would see the Queen for himself before he assured Sir Andre it was she. And the men did not secure their weapons, even though they were virtually certain there would be no need for them. Alinor was too rich a prize to take even vanishingly small chances. |
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Soon enough confirmation brought the small sounds of shields being replaced and of men dismounting. Sir Andre lifted Alinor from her mare and she shook out |
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