-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
This whole trip isn t permitted, as I understand it.
So why make things worse?
I chewed that over and said, Do you have any idea what s going to
happen?
We will appear before the Lords of Judgment and ask them to
restore my cousin.
Do we have any good reasons why they should?
Our nerve for asking.
Oh.
Shortly thereafter we came to a flat greyish stone set into the middle
of the path. It was irregularly shaped, maybe two feet wide, four feet
long, and sticking up about six inches out of the ground. Morrolan
stopped and studied it for a moment, chewing his lip. I gave him
silence to think for a while, then said, Want to tell me about it?
It indicates a choice. Depending on which way we go around it, we
will be taking a different way.
What if we walk directly over it?
He gave me a withering look and no other answer. Then he sighed and
passed around the right side of it. I followed. The path continued
among the naked trees, with no difference that I could detect.
Shortly thereafter we heard wolves howling. I looked at Morrolan. He
shrugged. I d rather deal with an external threat than an internal one
at this point.
I decided not to ask what he meant. Loiosh shifted nervously on my
shoulder. I said, I m getting the impression that these things have
been set up deliberately, like a test or something.
He said, Me, too.
You don t know?
No.
More howling, and, Loiosh, can you tell how far away that was?
Around here, boss? Ten feet or ten miles. Everything is weird. I d
feel better if I could smell something. This is scary.
Feel like flying around for a look?
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
No. I d get lost.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
Okay.
I caught a flicker of movement to my right and, as the adrenaline hit
me, I realized that Morrolan had his sword out and that I did, too.
Then there were greyish shapes appearing out of the mist and flying
through the air at us, and there was a horrible moment of desperate
action and it was over. I hadn t touched anything, and nothing had
touched me.
Morrolan sighed and nodded. They couldn t reach us, he said. I d
hoped that was the case.
I sheathed my blade and wiped the sweat from my hands. I said, If
that s the worst we have to fear, I ll be fine. Loiosh came back out of
my cloak.
Morrolan said, Don t worry, it isn t.
Loiosh explained to me that he was now more than a year old. I
allowed as to how this was true. He went on to say that he was damn
near full grown, and ought to be allowed to help. I wondered in what
way he could help. He suggested one. I couldn t think of a good
counterargument, so there we were.
The next day, early, I returned to Gruff s. This time I went inside and
found an empty corner. I had a mug of honey-wine and left again.
When I left, Loiosh wasn t with me.
I walked around to the back of the place and found the back door. It
was locked. I played with it, then it was unlocked. I entered very
carefully. It was a storeroom, filled with casks and barrels and boxes
with bottles, and it could have kept me drunk for a year. Light crept
past a curtain. So did I, finding myself in a room filled with glasses
and plates and things one needs to wash dishes. I decided the area
wasn t arranged very efficiently. I would have put the shelves to the
left of the drying racks and ... never mind.
There were no people in this room, either, but the low noise from the
inn s main room came through the brown wool curtain. I
remembered that curtain from the other side. I returned to the
storeroom, moved two barrels and a large box, and hid myself.
Five aching, stiff, miserable hours later, Loiosh and I decided Kynn
wasn t going to show up. If this continued, I was going to start taking a
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
dislike to him. I massaged my legs until I could walk again, hoping no
one would come through the door. Then I let myself out the back way,
even managing to get the door locked behind me.
We were attacked twice more; once by something small and flying,
and once by a tiassa. Neither of them could touch us, and both went
away after one pass. We also came across several diverging or
crossing paths, which Morrolan chose among with a confidence I
hoped was justified.
We came to another grey stone, and Morrolan once more took the
right-hand path, once again after some thought. I said, Is it pretty
much the way you remember it? Morrolan didn t answer.
Then a thick old tree covered with knots appeared just off to our right,
with a branch hanging across the path, about ten feet off the ground.
A large brown bird that I recognized as an athyra studied us with one
eye.
You live, it said.
I said. How can you tell?
You don t belong here.
Oh. Well, I hadn t known that. We must have made a wrong turn on
Undauntra. We ll just leave, then.
You may not leave.
Make up your mind. First you say
Let s go, Vlad, said Morrolan.
I assume that he was having his own little conversation with the
athyra while I was having mine, but maybe not. We ducked under the
branch and continued on our way. I looked back, but tree and bird
were gone.
A little later Morrolan stood before another grey stone. This time he
sighed, looked at me, and led us around to the left. He said, We are
going to have to, sooner or later, or we will never arrive at our
destination.
That sounds ominous.
Yes.
And, a little later, Can you give me a hint about what to expect?
No.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
Great.
And then I was falling. I started to scream, stopped, and realized that
I was still walking next to Morrolan as before. I turned to him as I
stumbled a bit. He stumbled at the same moment and his face turned
white. He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, looked at me,
and continued down the path.
I said, Were you falling there, just for a moment?
Falling? No.
Then what happened to you?
Nothing I care to discuss.
I didn t press the issue.
A little later I took a step into quicksand. For a moment I thought it
was going to be a repeat of the same kind of experience, because I was
aware that, at the same time, I was still walking, but this time it didn t
let up. Morrolan faltered next to me, then said, Keep walking.
I did, though to one part of my mind it seemed that every step took me
deeper. I also felt panic coming from Loiosh, which didn t help
matters, as I wondered what he was seeing.
It occurred to me that Loiosh could feel my fear, too, so I tried to force
myself to stay calm for his sake, telling myself that the quicksand was
only an illusion. It must have worked, because I felt him calm down,
and that helped me, and the image let up just as it was covering my
mouth.
Morrolan and I stopped for a moment then, took a couple of deep [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- matkadziecka.xlx.pl