LE Modesitt Corean 02 Darknesses

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staggered, then fell, less than two yards from the mare.
Wendra recocked the rifle, holding it ready as she continued to survey the
quarasote plains around her.
She could hear the hoofbeats of Royalt s mount, but she kept checking the
terrain until she saw the second sandwolf, more than thirty yards away, behind
a more distant and larger clump of quarasote.
Again, she waited.
The second sandwolf peered from the side of the quarasote, then turned, and
bounded to a second clump of quarasote, before vanishing into a gully so small
that Wendra could barely make it out.
I don t see any more, Royalt said as he reined up.
I can t either, she replied. But only two& ?
Sometimes, the younger ones hunt in smaller groups. Royalt, his own rifle
ready, glanced at the dead sandwolf on the red and sandy soil. That s a young
one.
Wendra measured the dead animal with her eyes. It s more than two yards long,
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and that s not counting the tail.
Full-grown, they can run to almost three yards. Royalt smiled. You did
well. They re harder to hit than a sander.
Wendra glanced back toward the flock, then aimed her eyes at the straggler
ewe. Get moving. She tried to project the kind of authority that Royalt and
Alucius did.
After a moment, the ewe nosed the lamb, and the two began to trot toward the
main body of the flock.
You ve got the touch, Wendra.
She smiled faintly. If we could just do that with people. Some
people& anyway, she added quickly.
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Like the Council. She flicked the reins gently, and the mare began to walk
toward the flock, still moving eastward toward the plateau.
Aye. That could get worse. Royalt eased his mount up beside Wendra s mare as
the two herders moved closer to the flock. Both continued to scan the
quarasote, even as they talked.
If Clyon doesn t recover from his illness?
Ifit is an illness.
You think someone on the Council would go that far?
At times, I wonder if there s anyone on the Council who wouldn t. They re all
more concerned about how many golds they can put in their strongboxes this
year than whether they ll have any at all next year.
We could shear every nightsheep down to the bare skin and make more nightsilk
this year& but half of them would die over the year, and then where would we
be? Herder who doesn t look to the future doesn t have one. They ve never
liked Clyon cause he keeps reminding them about the future.
How can they be that stupid?
Royalt laughed, roughly. Look around, Wendra. Most people are like that. Oh,
they talk about planning for tomorrow, working& but then they get an extra
silver and it goes for more ale, or a fancy scarf, or a shinier knife& He
shook his head.
Wendra glanced back at the fallen sandwolf.
Leave the sandwolf. Can t use anything.
She nodded, looking toward the flock ahead and the Aerlal Plateau beyond.
25
In the indirect light of late spring,Alucius studied the map spread on the
mess table. After a time, he took the ancient calipers and measured the
distance on the map from Emal to the high road between Salaan and Dereka. He
wrote down the figure, then measured the distance as a raven might fly, from
Aelta to
Emal, writing that down as well. As he did, he wondered how Feran was doing on
his travels to Fiente, since Fifth Company had left the day before.
Thrap.At the knock on the door or the doorframe to the officers mess, Alucius
looked up to see
Zerdial standing there. Yes?
Captain& there s a fellow here, says he needs to speak to you. He s an old
farmer. He says it s important.
Alucius stood. Did he say why?
He s from across the river& He asked for the herder captain. He said he had to
talk to you. I think he talked to one of the bridge guards, too, but he knew
that it was you he wanted.
I ll be right there. Alucius gently folded the old map and weighted it in
place with one of the histories
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he had brought back to Emal Outpost from the stead. He d read the history The
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Wonders of Ancient
Corus once already and was rereading it more thoroughly.
When Alucius stepped out into the warm and hazy spring sunshine, he saw a man
standing beside the wall with Zerdial. The stranger was a gaunt figure of a
man, with thin gray hair, wearing a worn and patched sheepskin jacket and
equally worn brown trousers. His boots had been stitched and restitched, and
his face was wrinkled and weathered. Because he wondered why a stranger would
seek him out, Alucius studied him for a moment with his Talent, but nothing
seemed odd, and the man s lifethread was a deep brown, rooted somewhere close
to the southeast, clearly that of a man deeply tied to the land nearby.
Alucius wasn t sure, but those with deep commitments appeared to have
lifethreads that were a solid color herders were almost always a solid black.
You are the herder captain, sir? The older man s eyes lingered on Alucius s
dark, dark gray hair, and he nodded.
Yes, I am. Alucius slipped back his tunic sleeve to reveal, if but
momentarily, the black crystal wristband, just below the form-fitting
nightsilk undergarment that was more effective than mail against sabre
slashes. The squad leader said that you wished to see me. How can I be of
help to you?
You look like a captain, and you feel like one. Yet you would see me? The
older man had an unspoken question.
Alucius could sense that, impoverished as the peasant farmer might be, he was
proud. Alucius smiled as gently as he could, then said, Few would ask to see
a captain if they did not have something to say. You have traveled far. How
could I not see a man who has done me that honor?
Abruptly, the farmer lowered his eyes.
Alucius hoped he hadn t gone too far, but the man s pride seemed to be all
that he had. He waited, not pressing.
Slowly, the older man looked up, and his eyes met those of Alucius. He nodded.
You are young for a captain. Yet you are far older than those with more
years. He swallowed. I have little, but I have worked hard. I have never
asked for anything except the fruits of my land and my hands.
You have worked hard. I can see that, Alucius replied, ignoring the
impatience radiating from Zerdial.
You do not like to ask of others, but I will hear what you have to say, and
if I can, I will do what should be done. Again, Alucius was operating on his
interpretation of the other s feelings, which included a sense of
righteousness, and anger, but an anger not directed at Alucius, for all that
the farmer s accent proclaimed him Lanachronan.
You have already done that, Captain. The farmer paused, not quite meeting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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