[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

well-being, and "
"You are stalling," she said in Erendra. "You won't hold us here by force, but
you would prolong the conversation forever." She threw up her hands in
exasperation.
Neterren chuckled. "Very well, little one. I'll be back to check on you later,
Jason."
The dwarf left, shutting the door behind him.
"So," Jason said, "you're going back to Holtun-Bieme with Ellegon?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She shook her head. "No." She
swallowed heavily. "Mom and Dorann are going there. I'm going with you."
* * *
There was something Father had once said about what he called his "command
voice," about how if you
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
%20rare).txt (98 of 177)15-8-2005 22:41:09
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
%20rare).txt said something, if you gave an order with perfect and complete
faith that it would be obeyed, then it would be obeyed.
I will be obeyed; she will do what I say. "You are not," he said, willing
himself to believe that he would be obeyed. "You will go to Holtun-Bieme on
Ellegon's back. With the others."
She pursed her lips for a moment, then took a quick chew on her lower lip, and
just for a moment he thought she was going to give in.
But then she shook her head. "Look, I don't like it any more than you do.
Less I'd much rather stay here, shooting blanks. But "
"You will "
"You will hear me out, shithead." She slammed her hand down, hard, on the bed.
"No I'm sorry.
Wrong approach." She closed her eyes and formed her hands into fists, then
relaxed them and her whole body. "Let's try it this way: hear me out, please?"
she said, softly, her eyes resting on his eyes, her hand resting on his hand.
It couldn't hurt to listen. "Go ahead."
"You're going under the assumption that the three of them both our fathers and
Ahira are alive and carving a swath through the slavers, heading this way.
Sort of like that last run thing he used to talk about, except that it's an
announcement that your father's alive. Correct?"
He nodded. "It's just an assumption."
She returned his nod. "But it makes sense. There's a lesser probability that
this is some scheme of the
Slavers' Guild to get you out of Holtun-Bieme and chasing after ghosts, but if
that had been the case they would have been ready to jump you in Enkiar.
"It sounds a lot like your father. I've been re-reading his letters; Karl
Cullinane has been champing at the bit for years, wanting to get out from
under that crown. This is just the sort of thing he'd try to pull,
particularly since he'd know he'd have to settle down after it."
"But what does that have to do with "
"Listen to me! Think it through, damn it," she said. "Who do you think's
running the operation? Your father? Look, I've been raised to think highly of
the great and powerful Karl Cullinane, but if they've survived this long, it's
because they're doing something tricky. A lot of tricky things you think the
slavers looking for them are all idiots? You think that they can't track a
team consisting of a dwarf, a big man and a bigger man with seven fingers? It
has to be something tricky.
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
Page 71
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
%20rare).txt (99 of 177)15-8-2005 22:41:09
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
%20rare).txt
"And tricky isn't something your father is. Or was. Ahira can be subtle, but
this whole thing smells of craftiness." She dipped two fingers into her belt
pouch and produced a copper coin. "Look," she said, slipping the coin into her
right fist, then holding both fists out in front of her. "Quickly, which hand
is it in?"
He shrugged. He'd seen the sleight before. If it had been done well and it
had there was no way that he could tell which hand held the coin.
"The right," he said, picking one at random.
"Nope," she said, as she opened her first, revealing an empty right hand.
"Guess again."
"The left," he said, then realizing that since she was letting him guess
again, it couldn't be in
"Wrong again." She held up an empty left hand. She picked the coin out of her
lap. "You think like your father. I think like mine.
"This is my father's show. If you haven't latched onto that by now, it's
because you don't think enough like Dad. There are only two people I know who
can follow his thinking, convoluted as it is. One of them's Ahira; he and the
dwarf have been working together since before I was born." She shrugged.
"And the other one's you?"
"Good guess, Jason. Have Ellegon drop us off outside Elleport and we'll hire a
boat and find them. Trust me, I'll find them for you. There's just one thing I
want you to do."
"Yeah?"
"Keep me alive while I'm doing it," she said. She swallowed, hard. "You may
not understand about this, but I've got to tell you that I'm scared shitless."
He knew something about being scared. He knew a lot about being scared. But it
wasn't something he was yet brave enough to admit to a pretty girl, not if he
didn't have to.
She stuck out a hand. "We got a deal, Cullinane?"
He took it. "We've got a deal, Slovotsky."
CHAPTER 16
Elleport
All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full.
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
%20rare).txt (100 of 177)15-8-2005 22:41:09
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Warrior%20Lives%20(very
%20rare).txt
 Ecclesiastes 1:7
There just isn't any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying.
 Walter Slovotsky
Ellegon dropped them off before dawn, near the Orduin just north of Findarel,
a small riverfront village less than a day's ride from Elleport and the
Cirric. They were too close to the dock area to risk a light, so it took
longer than usual to unload their gear from the dragon's back, and then get
Kirah, little Dorann and Kennen aboard again.
The dwarf didn't like any of it, and while they were unloading he stood by,
explaining to all and sundry how much he didn't like it.
He loathed riding on dragonback, he abhorred the idea of Kirah going to
Biemestren, he found idiotic the idea of Doria Andrea going to Biemestren, he
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
thought the idea that he was going to Biemestren was detestable
Why not just tell him to shut up or you won't take him to Biemestren?
*Because I wouldn't mean it,* the dragon said, *and I don't like making phony
threats. If I don't take
Kennen to Biemestren I would have to leave him with you. Either that, or
abandon him. Abandoning him would not sit well with King Maherralen, and I'd
prefer not to be met with a hail of bolts the next time I stop off in Endell.
So I'll just bear up bravely under the weight of the irritation.*
And be a fine, fine example to me, Jason thought.
 and Kennen very particularly was not fond of the idea of Jane going off into
who-knew-what kind of trouble with a bunch of spindly humans, and he loathed
the fact that the saddles were rigged for these oversized excuses for persons,
and he was angry that the lap-belt chafed him, and he thought it was
absolutely ridiculous that it was taking so long to get everybody and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]