For a moment Malledd was tempted to speak, to tell her the truth, to explain that he was the champion – after all, now he had earned the title, as he had not before.
But he said nothing. No good would come of it to speak; it was enough that he knew. Instead he just smiled again.
“Onnell and Delazin and Bousian have told us so much about Lord Duzon,” Anva said, tugging his pillow into a better position. “He sounds wonderful.”
“He's a good man,” Malledd agreed. “He deserves to be recognized as the champion.”
“And he should have been all along! Those priests coming here and telling lies – how could they? Why didn't they tell the truth? They almost...” Her voice broke. “They almost got you killed!”
“Well, it's all right now,” Malledd said, reaching up to touch his wife's cheek. “I'm home.” He remembered his vision, when Samardas had told him he would live many years yet.
“I'll be here a long, long time,” he said.
-end-
About the Author:
Lawrence Watt-Evans has been a full-time writer for more than thirty years, with more than forty novels and well over a hundred short stories to his credit. His story “Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers” won the 1988 Hugo for short story, as well as the Asimov's Readers Award. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife and a grumpy old cat.
His website is at http://www.watt-evans.com.
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