[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

certain, lay the pouch full of steel coins their fellow had seen in the tavern.
With his wild, terrible war cry ah, that cry the same as the first one he
ever shouted Griff leaped over Olwynn s huddled body. His sword
glinted as he plunged it into the gut of a goblin, the gleam quenched in
red, red blood. Yet seven remained, five humans and two goblins, all of
them certain of their skills, certain of the treasure they had come for.
I grabbed the mare s reins as she dashed past and grabbed Olwynn s
pack from the saddle horn. Griff snatched his pied gelding and his own
pack. One swift glance passed between us. With slaps and cries we sent
the horses plunging into the knot of ambushers.
 Run! I shouted, flinging Olwynn s pack at her as Griff grabbed her
wrist and yanked her to her feet.  No! Not ahead! The way is blocked!
Into the wood!
We scrambled off the side of the road, into Darken Wood, and none of
us wasted time looking over our shoulders.
* * * * *
We ran, but not for long. The wood was sparse along the verge, but we
soon found that beyond there it grew thick and close. Trees leaned
together, brush clogged what clear spaces might have been, while roots
reached up from the ground to trip us. Olwynn s breathing came in gasps
and sobs, ragged with effort and fear. Cae wailed constantly, her cries
muffled against her mother s breast but still loud enough to be followed.
Shouts and curses echoed behind us as the bandits untangled themselves
from the horses and plunged into the wood. One long keening cry rose up,
someone discovering his dead.
 Faster, I said to Griff as I ducked past him, looking for the slender
trails I knew.
He grabbed Olwynn s wrist again, dragging her stumbling behind. The
girl and her screaming child in tow, we splashed across a swollen stream.
Once up the other side Griff stopped, still gripping Olwynn by the arm.
 Shut the brat up! he growled, head up, ears keen for sound of pursuit.
We heard enough of that. Behind us, bodies crashed heavily through
the brush, harsh voices shouting oaths and threats. All round us, though,
lay silence. No creature of the wood made a sound. In that silence Olwynn
shrugged from under Griff s hand, drawing herself away from him.
Sweating in the cold air, her arms trembling as she held the infant to her,
she said,  Cae is hungry and cold and frightened. Find me a quiet place,
and I will quiet her.
Cae wailed louder. Griff put his hand on the grip of his sword, a slow,
considered motion. The pulse leaped in Olwynn s throat. She didn t back
away, though, and softly she said,  I have hired you, Griff Rees, to protect
me. Surely you don t threaten me now because my child is hungry and
tired?
She held her ground. Griff smiled the way you d think Winter itself
would smile, heartless and icy.  Am I not keeping your father s precious
treasure well enough, Mistress Haugh? You re still here and standing,
aren t you?
Back behind us a rough voice raised up, and another answered. In
silence, I cursed. I d taken this job for easy money, and it seemed to me
the money was getting harder all the time.
 Griff, I said,  let s get going.
Snarling, he said,  Broc, take us to some place quiet so Mistress Haugh
can tend her child.
Well enough, I knew where to go who better than the Dwarf of
Darken Wood? and so I went, thrusting through the low growth, leaving
Griff to shoulder through the tall with Olwynn, her child in full voice,
behind.
Closer now, the rough voice shouted,  Hear  em? Up ahead! The
bandits came crashing along our trail, led by Cae s wails. We heard one of
them howl with glee in the very moment I found the two crossing trails I
sought, one broad and clear, the other narrow and twisting. I smelled the
stink of goblin on the wind. Maybe Olwynn did, too, for she closed her
eyes and breathed softly, as if she were praying.
 All right, then, I said, pointing to the narrow trail winding out like a
snake.  That s our path, Griff. At the end the ground rises. You ll find
three caves. You want the middle one. It s deepest, and a spring wells up
in the back. Go there, and don t leave the path, or you ll be lost before I
miss you.
Behind us a deer leaped, crashing through the brush. Pursuit came
closer.
 And you? Griff said.
I gave him my pack, then pointed to the ground.  Covering the marks
of your big boots.
He laughed grimly and got Olwynn moving again. They took the
winding path, Griff ducking low, once or twice holding a whipping branch
back for Olwynn when he thought to. I waited until they were gone up the
path, then swiftly covered the marks of their passing. That done, I made a
trail for the pursuit, my own clear boot prints, indeterminate marks off to
the side, and some scuffing that looked as if someone had fallen a time or
two and scrabbled up again. A spring bubbled up on the left of the trail not
far ahead. I crossed it and left wet prints on the stony ground beyond.
Standing still off the path, I listened. A gravelly voice drifted to me on
the wind, a goblin speaking in his own coarse language. Satisfied, I
ducked into cover, making myself invisible in thickets as the bandits came
closer, my rusty clothing fading into the rusty bracken. Eyes on the trail,
ears straining for the sound of wailing Cae, I waited, breath held. Breath
held, and Reaper held, just in case.
One goblin came, then another, and several humans followed.
 I ll wear their skins for breeches, the first goblin said. He had a look
about him that reminded me of the rag-eared fellow I d killed on the road.
Kin, doubtless.
To the west, a crow cried again. Something fainter, smaller, seemed to
answer. Cae! The goblin who was looking for new breeches stopped,
obliging the others to do the same. He cocked his head, his pointed ears
swivel-ing, just like a cat s.
 Ar, it s nothin  growled a tall human.  Just a rabbit caught outside its
hole.
The goblin hung on his heel, listening. No other cry sounded. He took
his companion s word and went on. One by one, they passed me, all of
them looking as if they d had a hard time with thorny thickets. Smiling, I
watched them. They kept their eyes on the trail and their noses to the
wind. I heard them splash in the spring, heard them go on, and
congratulated myself on work well done.
With luck, they d follow the stony trail right back to the road again,
though they wouldn t know that till they d come in sight of Gardar s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • alwayshope.keep.pl

    •