[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.“Yes, you have done very well.”Kitishane felt her spirit glow within her at the praise, and scolded herself for letting a man's opinion matter to her.To hide it, she said tartly, “What of you, Illbane? Why did you do no more than speak to the king and his steward, and counter Malconsay?”“Because you were quite able to do all the rest yourselves, as you proved,” Illbane told her.“As to Malconsay, you were not yet proficient enough to deal with him—but now that you have seen the way of it, you will be, if you let Kitishane speak the words and Yocote work the spells.”Kitishane suddenly felt much less sure of herself, but Yocote said, “You have an uncommon amount of faith in us, Illbane.”“Why yes,” Illbane said.“I do, do I not?” But he could not keep the pride from his voice.Culaehra's breath came hard; he leaned against the straps Yocote had rigged to hold the treasure chest, and his face was pale.“Let us take a turn bearing it, Culaehra,” Kitishane urged for the tenth time.“Illbane and I can—”“No!” Culaehra sounded angrier than he meant; the weight was a constant irritation.“It is my burden, and I shall bear it!”Lua's eyes filled with tears behind her goggles; she lifted up a hand, but Illbane forestalled her.“He shall bear it himself no matter what we say, gnome-maid.Do not fear, he shall not need to carry it much longer.”“Why?” Culaehra demanded, frowning.“You shall see at the crest of this hill.” Illbane strode ahead of them to forestall any more questions.Culaehra glared at his back, at his ease of movement unencumbered, not noticing the stiffness of his joints.Illbane gained the top of the hill only a few minutes ahead of them and stood waiting, leaning on his staff.As they came to the crest, he pointed, and they looked, then stared, for none of them had ever seen a body of water so big that they could not see the other side.“How huge is that lake?” Kitishane asked, awed.“A thousand miles across, and its water is salty,” Illbane told her.“It is an ocean, not a lake.”Yocote's nose twitched.“What is that tang to the air?”“The salt I spoke of, scattered to the air and borne by the breeze,” Illbane told him.“We need not go a thousand miles, though—only across the bay that lies before us, a journey of a hundred miles.”“I must carry this chest so far as that?” Culaehra cried.“No, Culaehra—you need only carry it down to the ship that we will board.” Illbane pointed and, looking, they saw boats with tall masts beside a collection of houses along the shore.“It will take us to a town behind which mountains rise.We need only walk a dozen miles from that farther shore—but nine of those miles are uphill, and steep.”Culaehra groaned at the thought, but said stoutly, “I will be glad of the rest aboard ship.”“We must guard this chest closely, then,” Kitishane said, frowning.“We must indeed,” Illbane agreed.“Yocote, it is time you learned how to do without sleep.”“About time indeed,” the gnome returned.“Culaehra had to learn months ago!”The big warrior gave him a whetted glance, but the gnome didn't notice—he had already started on the downward path.Illbane found an inn, and left Culaehra in a private room with Kitishane and Lua while he took Yocote out to find a ship.The big man glared blackly about him the whole time, as if he expected the walls to erupt thieves or the door to burst open to admit a dozen bandits.The women did the best they could to distract him with lighthearted talk, but it was a losing battle— so, what with one thing and another, they were very glad when Illbane and Yocote returned to summon them aboard ship.“We must hurry, for the ship sails on the tide, whatever that is,” Yocote told them.Illbane took a large, empty leather pack from under his cloak.“Large enough to hold the chest, Culaehra, and then some, though we shall have to pack spare clothing around it to hide its shape.”“An excellent thought!” The big man hefted the chest.Lua quickly folded some cloth into the bottom of the new pack, and Culaehra set the chest in after it.He straightened up with considerable relief.“That will be easier to carry.”“Yes, and well-disguised,” Kitishane pointed out.Culaehra nodded as he swung the huge pack onto his back.“Aye.No sense in announcing to one and all that we have a small, very heavy chest, is there?” The pack settled into place, and a look of surprise came over his face.“It is lighter.”“Only a mild little spell,” Yocote said uncomfortably.“Walk braced for sudden weight, Culaehra—I am still quite new to this.”“The relief is vastly appreciated,” Culaehra assured him, “even if it does grow heavy again.”But he remained moody as they walked the streets of the little port with the tall masts ever before them.Kitishane eyed him uneasily and finally asked, “What troubles you, companion?”“Your forgiveness!” Culaehra blurted.“How can you overlook what I tried to do to you, Kitishane? How can any of you?”Kitishane shivered as the memory returned and drew a little away from him.“I do not think of it, Culaehra.You have changed so much that you scarcely seem to be the same man.I think of you separately from the stinking woods-runner who brought me down.”Culaehra winced at the words, but did not even feel an urge to retort.“Then I am a fool to remind you of it.You are too good for me to understand, Kitishane—you, and Lua, too.”“But not Yocote?”Culaehra shrugged.“He is a man, like me—and I have no illusions.He would cheerfully summon a tree to fall on me if he did not think he would need me to save his life again.”But the gnome heard, and his head swiveled about to stare with eyes hidden by his goggles.“Do you truly think so, Culaehra?” he asked with a frown.“Well, so.” He turned about and strode beside the sage again.Following, Culaehra watched him, frowning.He had to admit that the gnome had not had to make his load lighter; it would not ensure his being able to help Yocote when needed.He fell back a pace so that he could watch all his companions from the back as he followed them, pondering the riddle of human goodness.By the time they reached the ship, he had almost begun to believe in it.“Quickly, board!” The captain waved them up impatiently.“Quickly, ere we miss the tide!”They hurried, though Culaehra's stomach roiled at the way the gangplank swayed beneath his weight.Two sailors hauled it in the second he was aboard.“Settle yourselves against the side of the pilothouse,” the captain ordered, then turned to stride away down the deck, yelling something about casting off, though he didn't say what they should cast, and something more about cracking on sail.Culaehra lowered his pack to the floor gratefully and sank down beside it.“Do you understand one word of what they are saying, Illbane?”“I understand 'off,' 'on,' and 'the,' “ the sage told him.“The sailors have their own language, and I have never been to sea long enough to learn it.”Culaehra looked up, interested to hear the old man admit to not knowing some definite thing.Kitishane leaned closer and muttered, “Do not sailors think it is unlucky to let a woman on board?”“The deep-water sailors do,” Illbane told her, “the ones who sail out of sight of land for a stretch of weeks or even months, when there is time for them to work up fights over a woman's smile
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]