[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
of two or three. Both sides. Scattered just close enough to& too close.
Damn, we haven t got time. She stared down at her hands. And the kipu
could get a bright idea any minute. Abruptly she stood up. For the first time
she spoke aloud to the dweller in her skull. Harskari. With Burash and
Aamunkoitta watching, curious and more than a little awed, she went on, Can
you do it? What do I do?
Take a hand of each. Get the grating open first. You d never shift it even
half-phase.
The amber eyes glowing behind her own, Aleytys turned to Burash. Let me know
when the corridor s going to be clear for at least half a minute.
But
Don t worry, I m going to pull some of my magic. I think. You ll both be
feeling damn uncomfortable but it won t last long. Trust me.
He nodded. Hands on the bars he searched. Space coming up, he said tautly,
restraining his excitement with difficulty.
A pair of shadows flickered past the grating. As soon as the sound of their
feet faded, Aleytys used her own clairvoyance to double check the hall. It was
clear, just as Burash had said, but only for a heartbeat or so. She shoved the
grating open and seized the disparate hands of her companions.
The diadem flared and chimed, the air turned still and stiff. Ignoring the
startled gasp of the hiiri she rugged at the hands, communicating the urgency
and the need for haste through the tightness of her grip. Wading against the
thrust of the air the three fought down the hall, taking an eternity, an eon,
a dream-fantasy of futile running before they reached the fifth cell door. The
chime swung uphill.
Hastily Aleytys tugged the grating open and slid through the opening as soon
as it was wide enough, the other two rumbling in on her heels. Burash pulled
the grating shut and stood beside it while Aamunkoitta ran to the crumpled
body on the planks and crouched beside it staring wide-eyed at Aleytys who lay
gasping in exhaustion on the grimy floor.
Weaker than she had ever been in her life, Aleytys sucked in lungfuls of the
filthy air, struggling to regain some of the strength drained out of her. In
her head she heard a whisper almost beyond her ability to decipher& heal&
Page 115
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
heal& exhaustion& a kind& of& sickness& heal. She fumbled for the power, the
effort almost beyond her. Then the water poured over her, restoring her
strength. She sat up.
Watch the door.
Burash nodded and turned back, his body taut with concentration.
Aleytys put her hands on the unconscious hiiri and reached back for her
river. Her arms still felt like clumsy lead weights, her head woolly, thoughts
blundering and indistinct, but her talent flowed smoothly, the healing got
done, the hiiri sat up and stared around from lively dark eyes.
The traffic s thinning, Leyta. Burash s quiet voice broke through her
tiredness.
Good. Because I think that sort of magic has worn thin for me. She took
hold of the edge of the bunk and sat up, staggering as her knees buckled
briefly. Madar! I m weak as a two-day kitten.
Chapter XXII
Nakivas slipped out of the chill soggy shadow and knocked at the patched
rickety shutter of a crumbling house on the outermost rim of the city, a house
that seemed to owe its continued existence to the massive wall it leaned
against like a decaying wart. He rapped again, repeating the pattern twice
this time.
The shutter cracked open and the hiiri slipped inside.
Aleytys shivered. What time is it? she whispered to Burash who crouched
beside her in the tangled tree-brush mixture at the base of the wall.
Three hours until dawn. He was trembling with cold, his antennas bedraggled
and drooping, the fine feathering beaded with drops of icy water. He glanced
at her. Do you know& has the kipu missed us yet?
Aamunkoitta looked up alertly.
No. Aleytys pulled her robe tighter against her body, but the cold wet
material wasn t much help in cutting the chill in her bones. But Nakivas
better hurry. Damn. I ll never be warm again. She looked down at the tiny
calm figure of the hiiri. You don t seem to mind the cold, Kitten.
The hiiri shrugged. What is, is. Accept and be one. Kunniakas, the
henkiolento-maan would speak to you if you listened. Let them. Be one with the
earth, then the cold is one with you and will not harm you.
Burash touched Aleytys on the shoulder. Look.
The door was open. Nakivas slid out. He darted to them, bent over, keeping to
the darker shadows. Come. His voice was a whisper almost disappearing into
the whispering rustling leaves of the trees around them. Aleytys first, then
Burash, with Aamunkoitta as rear guard, they trailed him into the dilapidated
house.
Aleytys started and grimaced wryly as a musty shrouded figure slid around her
and swung the bar into its slots. She sniffed. The interior of the house smelt
of rotting wood, rotting food, and human sweat and urine. The walls groaned,
murmured, shifted continually, and the tiny ominous scrabbling of vermin feet
Page 116
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
combined with the stale thick blackness to work on her nerves until she
jittered with the urge to get out of the noisome place. A hand touched hers,
took it.
Hold onto the others. Follow me. Nakivas s voice came to her out of the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]