[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He was lost in a country he did not know, and the people around him were insubstantial as shadows, ghosts --strangers.He did not know them.He did not know where he was.He was small, and alone.The mountains had vanished and he was lost without them.His hand cramped painfully on Magrita's rein.He was afraid.He was afraid.He heard his name being called, and ignored it.He did not know these people.He did not want to come out."Kerris!""What's wrong with him?""Kerris, listen." He turned his face away.The voice followed him._Listen_.It was Kel's voice, ringing inside his mind._It will pass.Don't fight it.We are here.You know us.We care about you, chelito, don't run from us.We're your friends._Kel's hands were firm on his shoulders, holding him, and his voice was clear, inescapable, and unshakable as the mountains.Kerris' vision blurred and cleared in waves.He waited for the waves to stop.His mind felt bruised.He looked into his brother's face."What -- " His mouth was dry as the dust.The chearis ringed him, watchful and silent as cats."Get some water," Kel said.Someone moved and came back with a waterskin.Kerris tried to hold it but his arm shook.Kel lifted it to his lips.The water smelled of leather.Kerris drank until his belly filled.Kel gave the waterskin to Elli.His left hand rested still on Kerris' shoulder."Better?" he said."Better.Yes." Kerris could barely talk.His head throbbed."I heard you -- ""Inspeech is not my skill," Kel said, "but I have learned a little of it from Sefer and you have no barrier to keep me out.I hope I didn't hurt you, chelito."Elli knelt.She put one hand on his knee."Kerris, are you all right?"It took effort for him to turn his head her way.His neck ached.His headache dulled."I think so." He looked at Kel again."I _was_ frightened," he said."It's no big thing," Kel said gently."What frightened you?""The space." He gestured toward the vast, fluid land.He tried to stand.Kel brought him upright with an arm around his back.His muscles creaked.The storm had stopped.The sky gleamed lavender and blue.The last of the thunderheads was hurrying ponderously east."We should have talked before," Kel said."How does your head feel?""Tired," Kerris said.His hair and clothes were soaked.The seat of his pants was muddy."Can you ride?"He lifted his chin, conscious of the chearis listening."I can ride."Kel smiled warmly at him."Good." He turned."Cal, find us shelter.Kerris needs a roof over his head tonight, and we could all do with a bed.""I'll try," said Calwin.His hair was up on end again."I'm sorry -- ""No," said Kel."Don't say it." His grip was a hug."It's my fault, if anything.You should have been at Elath, among your own kind, five years ago.Come now, let's leave this place." Letting Kerris go, he strode to Callito.Riniard was holding Magrita's rein.Kerris took it from him.The rain had washed the dust from the air, and the wheatfields steamed with a heavy, pleasant odor._You should have been among your own kind five years ago._Somewhere in the south he had family -- even friends.His head throbbed.The edges of the world vibrated alarmingly.He wondered how far they would have to ride to shelter._Not far_.His brother's voice was gentle in his mind.Cal was leading the way back to the main road.Ribbons fluttered on a pole in the middle of a field.At the back of the line, Ilene was singing.Kerris touched his heels to Magrita's sides.The black mare quickened her pace.* * * *The village Cal found was small, smaller than Brath, and it appeared so suddenly out of the fields that Kerris imagined it had grown there in response to Kel's demand.As the chearas rode into it, Kerris picked out a stable, a pigpen, a well with a peaked wooden roof.The buildings were of wood, too, but their roofs were thatch.He smelled chickens.He counted six houses and one building that looked as if it was used for storage.The rhythmic pounding of metal on metal betrayed a smithy.The street was largely empty.The ground was wet, puddled in places from the storm, but drying fast.Three women swayed by, with baskets on their heads, their backs straight as arrow shafts.They held the baskets easily in place with one hand.Their skirts fell to midcalf.One of the women wore sandals with leather laces that went up past her hem.The hem of all three skirts was trimmed in gold thread.The other two women were barefoot.The apparition of eight strangers in their midst seemed not to interest them at all.One woman turned her head, without breaking stride, to glance with casual curiosity at the chearas.They halted in the middle of the street."Where is the -- "Elli began, and then fell silent, at Cal's gesture.A woman appeared on a doorstep, moving so quietly that Kerris was startled.She had a smooth, unlined face.Her hair was long and streaked with gray, and she wore it down her back, as young girls did at Tornor.A small colorful triangle of fabric was pinned to her hair.Her gown was brown and gold.She was barefoot, and the skin on her arms (which were also bare) was almost as dark as Elli's."I am -- headwoman -- of this village," she said, hesitating over the word headwoman as if she did not use it often."It's seldom we see travelers here, and more rare that those travelers are chearis.Where do you come from, and where do you go?""We are not lost, _damisen_," said Cal."We were caught in the storm, and we beg shelter.""You are of us," said the woman to him."I am.My village is east of the River." He did not say its name, and she did not ask."And the rest?" She looked at each of them in turn.Her eyes were dark, like Paula's.Kel said, "I am Kel of Elath.""Ilene of Elath.""Elli of Mahita."The woman raised her hands."That is enough." Her eyes lingered on Kel."From Elath -- the witch town.""Yes.""How long do you wish to stay here?""One night," Kel said."That is well.Wait a moment, if you please." She returned to the house she had emerged from.In a little while she came out.Shepointed across the square to a house that looked like all the others, except for a symbol on its door, a design of beads in a circle."The place is vacant now, and you are welcome to stay in it," she said.Riniard muttered something.The woman looked at him, eyes narrowed."You know what house that is?""Yes," he said."You are of the fields.""Ye, damisen," said Riniard."Where is thy village?""In the west, damisen," Riniard said.The woman made a little gesture with her right hand.Riniard returned it.She nodded."You are welcome," she said."Enter." She opened the door.Kerris climbed wearily from Magrita's back, unlacing his bedroll."You may leave your mounts in our hands.Please put your boots on the left side of the hall.There is a place for them."The hallway was dark and sweet-smelling as an herb garden.There were rushes on the floor
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]