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. And though provoked
enough for ten men, he never raised his voice to the older
knight. Some dark secret rode Sturm's shoulder like a black
beast, but I never discovered what it was.
Though Elistan was silent most of the time and never
complained-or maybe because of those things-I still did
not trust him. Every now and then he smiled serenely to
himself for no obvious reason as his eyes scanned the bleak
horizon. He couldn't be enjoying the trip, I reasoned. Was
he laughing at me, at tricking a gullible old cleric who
waited for the return of the true faith? The thought made my
legs move faster, to hasten the moment when I would leave
him behind.
But I must confess that, much as I tried, I could not look
forward to the time when I would leave Laurana. When
we'd first met, I'd thought it strange that a slight young
woman would lead eight men, four of whom were knights.
Then I'd believed, as Derek did, that her power over the
group came from the bear.
"My quest is to retrieve that orb," the knight growled
one night after he'd lost another debate to Laurana. "That
bear is no longer here to fight your battles!"
Derek's threat struck me as foolishly hollow, marking in
my mind the moment when I first knew Laurana had
enchanted me, though not in a romantic way. Each night
when we stopped and lit a small fire to warm ourselves and
eat our meager rations, Elistan sat whispering to Laurana,
advising her, giving her the moral strength to go on
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