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.” Mardane Voushanti appeared at my left side, matching me step for step.Impeccably garbed in a spruce green cloak and a silver hauberk blazoned with Osriel’s wolf, he kept his gaze straight ahead as he held out his hand for the case.“That’s not necessary.”I did not slow my pace and did not stare.I’d not quite believed he would meet me here as Saverian had promised when she left me in the well yard.“You should take this, though.” I passed him the scroll bearing Osriel’s seal.“Max—Prince Bayard’s pureblood—will meet us at my family’s house with a small escort.If you sense anything amiss, we’ll turn right around and come back here.”“And once you are in the custody of Sila Diaglou, I am to wait for some signal from you—a bonfire or magical explosion—at which time I am to charge into Fortress Torvo and pull you out.That is, unless you have burst from her dungeons with the prince and the thane or crawled out along some escape path given you by a generous not-brother who has always loathed you.That is a fool’s plan…no plan at all.”If it sounded ridiculous, it felt impossible.“I believe I can do this,” I said.“But I’ve no idea how long it might take to discover where Jullian is or to find the opportunity to get to the others.If I think of anything else between here and there, I’ll be sure to tell you.Just stay close and be alert.”The mardane halted.I kept walking.“I’ll give you two days,” he called after me.“Mistress Elene has given me a well-filled purse.Bring the prince out before midnight two days hence, or I’ll buy me some fighters and come in after you.”I stopped and looked back at him.The scarlet centers of his eyes had heated in defiance, but I had not even asked Saverian how to call up the power I had over him.I had no desire to wield Osriel’s red lightning.“Three days,” I said.“But buy your fighters and have them ready beforehand.”“Done.” He jerked his massive head and caught up with me.The unscarred half of his face was the color of chalk.We resumed our walk and rounded the corner into the alley that so resembled the lane in Palinur.“You will abandon me and get the prince straight back here if we cannot rendezvous,” he said.“I will.I assumed that’s what his sworn protector would wish.”When we reached a certain dark little gap between two deserted storage buildings, I stopped and set down my case.“If you’ll be so kind as to keep prying eyes away, I need to…uh…change my clothes.”Perhaps Saverian’s summary description of my new talents had not included the required livery, for Voushanti’s startled visage hinted that he’d not expected me to emerge from the gap lacking all accoutrement save light-drawn rocks and sea creatures.“Strange, are they not?” I tossed the bundle of wool and velvet atop the case and stretched out my arms.With every passing moment in this shadowed alley, my gards brightened and their color deepened.Somehow the sight of them…or perhaps the gards themselves…left me feeling stronger, less battered by the wretched day, and if not exactly warm, somewhat warmer than my state of undress would promise.“Can’t say I know what exactly they are.But they don’t work if I keep them hidden.”His terrible eyes traveled up my body until they locked on my own.The red centers pulsed faintly, very like his blood as it had leaked out of him.“We are two of a kind,” he said, his mouth twisting in his grotesque semblance of amusement.“Neither here nor there.”Squirming inside, I picked up my case and my clothes bundle.“We’d best move.Wouldn’t want to be late.” The ways in which I did not wish to resemble Voushanti were beyond numbering.Shoving worries and plans aside, I stepped forward, my eyes on the stone walls and banks, on the overhanging trees, my ears on the dribbling conduit that piped water from the well yard.I inhaled the scents of the fortress cookfires and refuse heaps, and recalled the stink of fear as the ragged folk gathered on the hillside lane near the Cartamandua house.The air would be thicker in Palinur…and a wetter cold than here…with more snow on the ground—old, wet snow, freezing as the night approached.We walked slowly along the alley.At a particular well-shadowed length of the wall, I threw my bundles over and climbed up the old stones……straight into the brushy, snow-clogged beech grove in Palinur where I had undressed on my way back to Renna earlier in the day.Voushanti topped the wall and immediately spun in his tracks, for the babble, clatter, and stink of the beggars’ encampment fell on our heads like a bludgeon.Fires had driven more people into the purebloods’ lane.Enchantments vibrated on every side of us, shielding the fine houses that stood back from the lane.“I’ll be ready to go in just a moment.” As I bent down to retrieve my clothes, my foot broke through the crusted snow, scraping my ankle and shin.A youthful voice cried, “Mam, it’s the angel come back again!” And Saverian climbed over the wall.“Gods’ teeth!” I said, as running feet crashed through the underbrush from farther down the lane, and bodies gathered just at the point we’d topped the wall—cutting off my return route.We had nowhere to run.This particular grove crowded between my family’s garden wall and the lane.I shoved Voushanti and my case behind the largest tree, then grabbed my cloak and Saverian and dived into the underbrush.“What the devil are you doing here?”Saverian crawled on top of me, spreading her own cloak wide and enfolding me in her arms.“Just be still,” she whispered.“Your gards shine like a watch fire.” I drew my legs up under her, while she proceeded to tuck all the straggling bits of me and my distinctively colored cloak out of sight.“Over there in the trees,” piped the child.“By the saints, I swear it.Knew he’d come back!”“’Tis a sign! The god’s not forgotten us.” Murmurs swelled from the lane beyond the grove.“He sends his holy legion to drive out these Harrowers!”“Blue fire, ye say, child?” said a man with a voice like gravel.“My gammy told me of those who wear naught but blue fire…”“And wings, boy, did ye see wings or no?” Boots and bodies crashed through the dry brush.Saverian hissed.“Do something, sorcerer.Move, else they’ll think we’re dead and not just preoccupied.”The warm weight of her body pressed my bare backside into the twigs and snow.How like Saverian to lie close in a thorny bed…which thought led me to remember Elene in my bed, sunlight bathing her golden skin…which led me to recall Saverian’s capable hands, guiding me through my nivat madness…touching me everywhere…Of a sudden, fear and strangeness and this ridiculous situation, lustful memory and a barrage of sensations—earth and snow and woman and oncoming night—enveloped me in such a fever, I could not control it.“Deunor’s mercy, mistress,” I choked, “I dare not move.”But I did.Safely hidden beneath her cloak, I snaked my arm up her back.Fingering her neck, I pressed her head gently downward, until her face rested in the crook of my neck and shoulder.Her breath so warm…so inviting.Her bones so firm and straight.My alter hand stroked her rigid spine to yielding…then found its way to her backside, while my knee drew up between her legs and nudged them apart…Her head popped up.“Villain madman!” A sharp blow stung my cheek…and waked me from my fog of lust to shuffling bodies and laughter all around our ungainly heap [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]