The Prize in the Game | Page 6

to share what she thought. So Elenn couldn't forget about her.
And if she was going to have to care about her, then everyone else
ought to.
She looked to see where Emer had got to. She had been walking with
ap Fathag and Conal, which was all right, but now ap Fathag had gone
on ahead and she seemed to be talking intently to Conal. That wasn't all
right. It especially wasn't when Conal paused to hear what Emer was
saying. Elenn just knew they were talking about her. She couldn't catch
up to them either, because she had to walk with Leary and pretend to be
paying attention to what he was saying. What was he saying anyway?
She listened for a moment.
"Nobody takes up arms until they are eighteen, which won't be until
next Spring," he was saying. Leary had been talking about Darag and
Ferdia being wrong all the way from the grove. Well, Elenn thought it
was wrong too, but she wasn't going to bore anyone with it. She closed
her ears again, which was a useful skill sometimes. Sometimes what a
queen has to do is just sit and smile and look beautiful. Maga had told
her that, though Maga wasn't a queen, of course, but a king. A king
needs different skills. But Elenn wasn't going to be a king, and she was
glad. Being a king would be boring and you'd have to listen to people
going on and on all the time. A queen had a lot of work to do with
organising food and supplies for everyone and being gracious, but no
fighting.
Not that Maga did any fighting, she hadn't for years. But she might
have to, if there was an invasion. No fighting, no being forced to do
more than pretend to listen to boring people and no talking to the gods.
Talking to the gods was scary. Let her brother Mingor be the king,
she'd be a queen and make a good alliance for Connat. If Ferdia were
king of Lagin he'd make a very good alliance indeed.
They had reached the top of the mound. It was strange how familiar
with Ardmachan she had got in the month she'd been here. At first it
had seemed huge and frightening. There was the wall at the bottom,
and another wall at the top, and then three big halls inside, as well as
the ordinary buildings. Everything was inside here, except things that

couldn't be on top of a hill, like the well and the smithy.
Elenn smiled at the guards on the gate as she went through. She always
did. It wasn't any trouble, and it made them like her, and things were
always easier if people liked her. She knew one of these guards. He was
Casmal, who taught them spear-throwing. He looked worried. She
wondered what ap Fathag had said to him. She gave him a special smile,
and hurried after Leary and the others.
Nid gave her a strange look as she caught up. Elenn didn't understand
Nid very well. She was a girl, but she wasn't at all beautiful, not even as
pretty as Emer. That wasn't strange, but Elenn couldn't understand why
she didn't care about it. She wore long brown straight shifts, and
embroidered overdresses only on special days. She kept her hair tied on
top of her head almost all the time. All she wanted to do was be a
charioteer. Finca, Conal's mother, who taught them chariot-fighting,
said that Nid would probably be very good at it. She was good with
ponies and she wasn't going to be heavy, which was important for a
charioteer. She said Emer would as well, and Elenn if she would only
try harder. Lots of the best charioteers were women. Darag's mother
Dechtir had been Conary's charioteer before she was killed. There were
songs about her. But Elenn didn't want to be a charioteer at all. She just
wanted to know how to fight enough to defend herself, that was all. She
didn't need to be a champion. She was going to be a queen. Her king
would have a whole hall of champions to defend her honour. Like
Maga. If anyone insulted her she could just raise a finger and everyone
in the hall would be begging to be chosen to be her champion and she'd
choose the best one and they'd always win. That was better than
fighting for yourself. Maga had explained that to her years ago. Nice as
it was to be away from her for a while, Maga made a lot of sense about
that sort of thing.
Ap Fathag charged straight past the Speckled Hall, which was a huge
storehouse for supplies, with a special room where