Jaxom then tried two more equally unfrequented locations, one in the plains of Keroon and another on a deserted island oft the coast of Tillek. He was followed to both places.
At first he seethed over such surveillance and envisioned himself tackling Lytol on the matter. Common sense urged that Lytol would scarcely have asked either the steward or Deelan to set their creatures on Jaxom. Misplaced zeal! If he tried to tell Deelan straight out, she’d weep and wail, wring her hands and run straight to Lytol. But Brand, the steward, was a different matter. He had come from Telgar Hold two Turns back when the old steward had proved unable to control the lustiness of the fosterlings. Jaxom paused. Now then, Brand would understand the problems of a young man.
So, when Jaxom returned to Ruatha Hold, he found Brand in his office, giving out discipline to some drudges for the depredations of tunnel-snakes in the storage rooms. To Jaxom’s astonishment, the drudges were instantly dismissed with the injunction that if they didn’t present him with two dead tunnel snake carcasses apiece, they’d do without food for a few days.
Not that Brand had ever been lacking in courtesy to Jaxom, but such prompt attention surprised him, and he required a breath or two before he spoke. Brand waited with all the deference he would show to Lytol or a ranking visitor. With some embarrassment Jaxom remembered his outburst of a few mornings before and wondered. No, Brand wasn’t the obsequious type. He had the steady eye, the steady hand, firm mouth and stance that Lytol had often told Jaxom to look for in the trustworthy man.
“Brand, I can’t seem to go anywhere without firelizards from this Hold appearing. Deelan’s green, and if you don’t mind my saying so, your blue. Is all that really necessary anymore?”
Brand’s surprise was honest.
“Occasionally,” Jaxom hurried on, “a fellow likes to get off by himself, completely by himself. And, as you know, firelizards are the world’s greatest gossips. They might get the wrong impression … if you know what I mean?”
Brand did but, if he was-amused or surprised, he dissembled well.
“I do apologize, Lord Jaxom. An oversight, I assure you. You know how anxious Deelan used to be when you and Ruth first started flying between and the firelizards followed as a safeguard. I should have long ago altered that arrangement.”
“Since when am I Lord Jaxom to you, Brand?”
The steward’s lips actually twitched. “Since the other morning … Lord Jaxom.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Brand.”
Brand inclined his head slightly, forestalling further apology. “As Lord Lytol remarked, you are well old enough to be confirmed in your rank. Lord Jaxom, and we-” Brand grinned with uninhibited ease “-should act accordingly.”
“Ah, well, yes. Thank you.” Jaxom managed to leave Brand’s office without further loss of poise and strode rapidly to the first bend of the corridor.
There he stopped, mulling over the implications of that interview. “Old enough to be confirmed in your rank …” And Lord Groghe thinking to marry him to his daughter. Surely the canny Fort Holder wouldn’t do that if there was any doubt of Jaxom’s being confirmed in rank. The prospect now alarmed and annoyed Jaxom whereas the day before it would have pleased him enormously. Once he officially became Lord of Ruatha, any chance he might have had of flying with the fighting wings would be gone. He didn’t want to be Lord of Ruatha-at least not yet. And he certainly didn’t want to be saddled with a female not of his own choosing.
He should have told Menolly that he had no trouble with any of the Holder girls … when he was of the mind. Not that he had followed some of the bawdier fosterlings’ examples. He wasn’t going to have the reputation of a lecher like Meron or that young fool of Lord Laudey’s, whom Lytol had sent back to his home Hold with some cover excuse that no one really believed. It was all right for the Lord Holder to beget a few halfbloods, quite another to dilute Holder Blood with other lines. Nonetheless, he would have to find a pleasant girl to give him the alibi he needed, and then take the time for more important things.