[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Says his honor would be damaged."Nathan's eyes narrowed, and he muttered darkly, "I'm going to bust Jonnie'sass if he can't keep his mouth shut and his hands to himself.""I can handle him myself." Men.All their posturing, yet she was going tohave to pick up the pieces anyhow.She guessed it didn't hurt to ask."What amI supposed to do with Windwolf?"Nathan gazed at the battered elf bleakly."I don't know, Tink.Just ride itout, if you can.I don't know anyone more qualified to take care of him thanyou.""Damn it, Nathan." She followed him out to the front door."I don't knowanything about healing an elf.""Nobody does.Take care of yourself, Tink!""Yeah!" She watched him get into his squad car and pull away."Nobody else isgoing to do it."Page 17ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlShe bolted the front door and glanced at the office clock: 1:20.Only alittle more than an hour since Windwolf came over the fence, and anothertwenty-three before Pittsburgh returned to Elfhome and its magic.Already there was a tiny slice off the top of the sink's power meter.Shemarked the one-hour's usage, feeling a growing sense of despair.The sinkwould last approximately another twenty hours.Alone she couldn't move theheavy sink, and if she disconnected Windwolf from it to get him to help, hewould die.And according to Tooloo, if he died without the spell beingcanceled, so did she.She remembered with a start that Tooloo had at one time given her a cancelspell.Tinker had transcribed it into her computer as an appendix to herfamily's spell codex.Windwolf seemed to be asleep; still, she did the searchby hand, using the keywords of "cancel, life debt." Since the workshop screenwas viewable from the table, she quickly sent the spell to the printer andclosed the file.The printer hummed as it spit out a page of circuit paper.Tinker picked up the paper and stared at it.Tooloo had scribed the singlecomplex glyph out, and Tinker had copied it carefully; but the blunt truthwas, she had no idea what the spell would do.The thought of using it smackedof putting an alien device to Windwolf's head, pulling the trigger, andhopingit didn't blow his brains out.Even if the spell didn't kill him outright,what if it disrupted his healing ability? At this moment, the result would bedeadly.And she only had Tooloo's often changing assertions that what Windwolf haddone to her was harmful.Because Tooloo had taught her Elvish, and thefundamentals of magic, Tinker's scientific psyche allotted the half-elf withthe same basic faith she had in her other teachers.(If her grandfather hadever lied to her, he had done it with a mathematician's consistency and hadtaken all of his secrets to his grave.) Oilcan warned Tinker often that shewas too trusting in general, so she forced herself to consider that Tooloocould be lying.She sat in her still workshop, Windwolf's ragged, uneven breathing the onlysound, painfully aware of the empty streets for miles in all directions,trying to decide.Did she risk killing Windwolf to save herself?Throughout Tinker's childhood, Tooloo took odd perversity at beingimpenetrable; there was no knowing if what she told Tinker was anything morethan attempts to frighten her.Windwolf, though, had saved her twice thisevening, and once five years ago.Simple, cold, rational logic dictated thatshe owed Windwolf the benefit of the doubt.She put down the spell, but shefound no comfort in her decision.Why was the unknown so much more frighteningthan the known?* * *A half hour later, with a rumble of the big Caterpillar engine and the rattleof chains, Oilcan returned to the yard.He had his tow lights on and a smallshrub stuck in the flatbed's ram-prow."Tinker?" he bellowed as he swung out of the cab, a crowbar in hand."Coz?""Here am I." She came out into the yard, the dent mender in hand.Tinker and Oilcan favored one another, which sometimes made Tinker wonderabout her egg donor
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]