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 Sometimes my life has meant a great deal to me, and sometimes nothing at all.
Tyfar panted up then, and started in at once thanking the girl. Then he said,  And I do not know to
whom I owe my life.
 You may call me Jaezila.
We started off along the path again, and I felt it prudent to hang back. I did this to guard against pursuit
and, also, as I realized with a sly amusement, so that they might have it out between them.
 Jaezila, said Tyfar, rolling the syllables around his mouth as though they were best Jholaix.  And is that
all  my lady?
 No. It will do for you  Jikai.
She cut him with that great word, used as she used it, in mockery of his warrior prowess.
 Jaezila, persisted Tyfar, and I own I was impressed by his refusal to become warm. After all, he was a
prince.  And no more  you are Hamalese? He sounded doubtful.
I thought I detected a wary note in Jaezila s voice.
 Hamalese  does it matter? I seek to aid you, who are Hamalese. Is not that good enough?
 I accept that. Tyfar passed on, following her beyond the end of a screen of curly-fronded ferns where
the dragonflies, as big as chickens, flitted and flurried on diamond wings.  And what brought you to
Khorunlad?
 Your breeding left much to be desired, dom.
Tyfar bridled up like a spurred zorca. To be accused of poor breeding, and a Prince of Hamal! And to
be addressed so familiarly as dom, the common greeting! I watched it all, enthralled.
Then I jumped forward.
My Val! We had been growing very chummy with these people, with stubborn Kaldu and this enigmatic
woman styling herself Jaezila. But we did not know them. I didn t want Tyfar labeling himself a prince 
particularly a Prince of Hamal  until we knew them a great deal better.
 You may be surprised to know  Tyfar was saying with his voice as frosty as the caverns of the Ice
Floes of Sicce. He was going to put Jaezila properly in her place by telling her that she had the honor of
addressing a prince, I didn t doubt that. I burst in, quite rudely.
 Come on, come! Don t stand chaffering. I think there were sounds of pursuit along the path.
Tyfar immediately swung about and lifted his sword.
Jaezila simply looked at me.  You think there is pursuit?
She missed nothing, this girl, nothing...
 And if there is not, that is still no reason to stand lollygagging about. By Krun! Let us get out of this bog
and onto firmer ground.
 Fifty paces will bring us to the bank. If you can call it a bank. I scouted this area 
I said,  You are not from Khorunlad, Jaezila. Hamalese? Maybe. But I do not inquire why you help us
from Hamal.
 Do you think that the Empress Thyllis will conquer all the Dawn Lands, Jak?
That was a confounded question!
It suited my purposes to be thought a Hamalese. Yet it went against the grain to have to say that, yes,
mad Empress Thyllis would overrun all the Dawn Lands, one after the other.
 She might, I said.  If her throat is not cut first.
She drew her breath in. The others showed up ahead waiting under a grove of drooping missals. Beyond
them the river glimmered blue as the summer sky.
 You spoke of revolution, said Jaezila.  Now, I see 
I interrupted, swiftly but courteously:  My lady Jaezila, do not misunderstand me. Zair knew, I d taken
long enough getting myself accepted as a Hamalese, and this girl quite clearly was more than she
appeared. She could go running back to Hamal with a tale that would destroy my plans. I had to
dissimulate.  I spoke figuratively. We all serve the empress, do we not? Hamal is set on the road of
conquest, is not this so?
 By Jehamnet! Hamal is set on the road to conquest!
Her voice contained emotions I couldn t fathom. She swore by Jehamnet, a spirit of harvest time
associated with crop failures and similar disasters, and who is known as Jevalnet in Vallia, and Jegrodnet
and Jezarnet in the Eye of the World. But she had said Jehamnet, which is Hamalian. He is known as
Jehavnet in most of Havilfar. I fancied she was Hamalese and therefore, down here, out doing
skullduggery for Thyllis. I held my tongue.
We gathered by the boat, a little skiff that would just about take us all and give us a hand s-breadth
freeboard. The river rippled gently in a small breeze. On the opposite bank the walls and roofs of the
jumbled Aracloins offered shelter. We pushed off and Kaldu and I pulled the oars, taking it gently. There [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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