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.Ess'yr whispered something in her own tongue, and Inurian gave a slight shake of his head in response.He closed his eyes.When he spoke, he caught Orisian by surprise.'I was sure you still lived, Orisian.It is good to be proved right, for once.''You are always right,' Orisian said, fearing that his voice might crack.That brought a smile back to the na'kyrim's face, but still he did not open his eyes.'Is Anyara here?' he asked.'I am,' she replied.'Good.'Orisian saw that Ess'yr had placed her hand over Inurian's.She did not squeeze it, merely resting her skin against his.It was impossible to tell whether he felt the touch.'Tell me where we are,' Inurian said.Orisian expected one of the Kyrinin to reply, but Ess'yr barely seemed to be breathing and Varryn held himself some distance away.He was facing out towards the silent forest.He gave no sign of having heard Inurian.'We are on the southern edge of the Car Criagar,' Orisian said.'Rothe is here as well.He has been carrying you.''Thank him for me,' whispered Inurian.Orisian glanced at his shieldman, and the big man inclined his head in acknowledgement.'Where are we heading?' Inurian asked.Orisian hesitated at that.Still neither Varryn nor Ess'yr showed any inclination to respond to Inurian's questions.'We were going down towards Glasbridge.There are White Owls pursuing us, but now Varryn says they…'Inurian lifted his head from the ground.His eyes flicked open once more.'Varryn?' he said.'Yes,' said Orisian.'Ess'yr's brother.' He could see that Inurian was no longer listening.The na'kyrim looked around, and his gaze settled upon the tall Kyrinin warrior standing with his back to them.He clearly knew who Varryn was, but his expression was unreadable.With a wince, Inurian let his head sink back.'You are in good hands,' he breathed, though his voice was toneless and flat.'He says the White Owls are ahead of us now.He wants us to go up, away from the valley,' Orisian continued.He thought at first that Inurian had not heard him, or had fallen once more into unconsciousness.A moment later those grey eyes met his own.There was a cargo of meaning in the gaze that Orisian could not quite grasp, but it lasted for no more than a second and it was to Ess'yr that Inurian spoke.He said something to her in the Fox language.Ess'yr tensed at his words.Her hand flinched where it lay upon Inurian's.Varryn turned to face them.Orisian realised that some decision had been made; whatever Inurian's words had been, they had changed the future for the Kyrinin.'Follow them,' Inurian said to Orisian.'They know where to go.'Within a minute, they were moving once more.* * *They climbed higher and the air grew colder with each hour that passed.They no longer ran; Rothes strength had at last reached its limit.For once, the Kyrinin did not show any sign of urgency, as if speed was no longer what mattered.They came to a river, much larger than any of the other streams they had crossed, and turned to follow its course upwards.Orisian began to feel a nagging sense of familiarity.For the first time since they had begun their flight, he felt he ought to know where he was.'It must be the Snow River,' said Anyara.She was right.There was no other watercourse of any size that flowed from the Car Criagar in these parts.'It must be,' he agreed.'I can't see why we're following it, though.'Their exchange roused Rothe from his trance-like exhaustion.He lifted his head and looked around without breaking his stride.'It is the Snow,' he said.'It'll only lead us into a trap if we keep going.'Orisian realised at once what he meant.He had never seen it with his own eyes, but his uncle's hunters had talked of the gorge through which the upper reaches of the Snow passed.At its head it grew sheer-sided and narrow, ending in a high waterfall where the Snow spilled from the crags.The hunters called those falls Sarn's Leap, and called them cursed as well.Few went there.When a man reached the falls there was nowhere to go but back the way he had come.Already the land to either side of them was rising in rocky ridges like the funnel of a wildfowler's nets.'Ess'yr,' Orisian called, 'there's no way through here.We can't get past the falls.'She ignored him.Inurian murmured something.Rothe slowed and looked down at the na'kyrim he bore, as if surprised that he was still alive.'Trust her,' Inurian was saying.* * *Cliffs towered above them when they at last came to a halt.The Snow River was sunk deep in a gigantic furrow of stone.They rested beside it and drank.The sound of Sarn's Leap came from somewhere up ahead, a continuous hiss of cascading water.It was hidden around a curve in the gorge.'What now, then?' demanded Rothe.Orisian was staring at the thick stand of willows that lay between them and the waterfall.The trees thronged the floor of the gorge.There was no way round them.He knew what they were.'We go on,' Ess'yr said to Rothe.'They will not follow.''There's nowhere to go,' muttered Rothe.'This is a cursed place.Sarn had no luck here.No one does.Why shouldn't they follow, and trap us at the falls?'Ess'yr turned her back on him.'It's a dyn ham,' explained Orisian.'A burial ground.It must be an old one; abandoned.The Kyrinin dead are in the trees.'His shieldman looked doubtful.'So that'll keep the White Owls off us? Fine, but what do we do once we're at the falls? Fly? They only have to wait.There's no way out of here, Orisian.''There is,' said Varryn.Orisian felt a sharp premonition of something awful.The Kyrinin's voice had a dead finality about it.The decision had been made some time ago.This was the crux of it.Inurian was lying on the ground.He raised himself on one elbow and beckoned Orisian.'Listen to me, Orisian.In the mountains above us there is a ruined city.You know it?''Criagar Vyne? I've heard of it.''Ess'yr can show you the way.There is a woman there: Yvane, a na'kyrim.She can give you shelter.I don't think the White Owls will go so far into Fox lands.Perhaps the Black Road won't either.' He clasped a hand to his mouth to smother a racking cough.When he lowered it again there were flecks of blood on the palm.'But we have to get to Glasbridge, or to Kolglas.We must…' Orisian fell silent as Inurian seized his arm in a vice-like grip.'No, Orisian,' the na'kyrim said raspingly.'Think.It won't take the White Owls more than a few hours to run you down.You're not in the valley now: you're in the forest, and that's Kyrinin territory.' Inurian's grey eyes held Orisian fast.They burned with an intensity unlike anything Orisian had seen there before.'Anduran's gone, perhaps Tanwrye as well.Glasbridge will be next.Get Anyara to safety, Orisian.Yvane can get you to Koldihrve, on to a boat there.Both of you.'Orisian found tears in his eyes.He was barely listening to what Inurian said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]