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to block my escape routes. I looked around, found the clearest spot, then dove for it, casting a cover
spell as I flew.
When I hit the ground, I vanished. Again, everyone stopped to stare in momentary confusion. Before
they could recover, I sprang to my feet and ran for the forest.
Chapter 44
WHEN I STARTED RUNNING, THE MEN WERE RIGHT BEHIND me, but soon they began to
drop back, unable to keep up the pace. I kept waiting hoping for the footfalls to peter out, but I
should have known they wouldn't. These guys hadn't seen a victim in decades, even centuries; they sure
as hell weren't going to give up the moment their first one took off.
I couldn't take them all on. Trsiel had said the Fates would send someone after me if I didn't return. The
only thing I hated worse than running away was hanging around waiting to be rescued, but this wasn't the
time for a show of independence. The smart thing to do was hide and wait. Stung like hell, but the
alternative would hurt a lot worse. Stand and fight, and there might not be enough of me left to rescue. It
was my fault I needed rescue in the first place. Suckered by a magician's pickpocket trick. I could say it
was an all-time personal low, but I'd be lying.
As I ran deeper into the forest, the night took over, enveloping me in black. I tried my light-ball spell
again. This time it took hold dim but steady. Dim was good, though. At full strength, it would have been
like running with an Olympic torch, an obvious target for my pursuers.
My night vision would have been even better, but I didn't even hope for that to kick in.
When I hit the fork in the path, I veered down the right-hand branch, heading deeper into the woods.
After a few minutes, I caught a glimpse of a clearing to my right. Instinctively I focused my long-range
vision. Of course, that failed. Without slowing, I swung my light-ball in that direction. Through the trees, I
could make out the dim shapes of houses. Shit! More villages? Why not. Maybe that's what this
dimension was, not a single smattering of houses, but a whole world of villages, each with its own mob of
killers.
I hit a thin patch of woods where someone had cut down a handful of trees, clearing an unintentional
window to the village beyond. I'd seen this same open patch before, this same pattern of cut trunks. As I
raced past the clearing and looked through to the village, I knew what I'd see. The stone houses I'd just
left.
It was the same village. The seemingly endless forest was an illusion. Walk north from the village, and
you'd find yourself at the south end. That was why Dachev headed back the way he'd come when he
thought I'd kept running down the path earlier so he could head me off when I unintentionally looped
back around. The moment I thought this, I saw a shape moving through the trees ahead. I glanced over
my shoulder. More shapes running that way.
I dove into the forest on the left. Even as I crashed through the bushes, hearing nothing behind me, I
knew I wouldn't get far. Not only had I lost the advantage of speed, but I was cutting their path for them.
Any minute now, they'd be close enough to see.
I stopped running, dowsed my light-ball, slipped off to the left, and cast a cover spell. A moment later,
the forest erupted in crashes and curses, as they stumbled through the dark looking for me. Should I stay
here, covered, until the cavalry rode in? I was relatively safe, but would my rescue team know where to
find me? I had to trust that they would& or that I'd hear them. So long as I was hidden here, with the
killers fumbling in the dark
A light flickered to my right. As I strained my eyes in that direction, I saw orange flame bouncing through
the darkness, approaching from the west. A torch. Someone had gone back to the village for a torch.
Within moments, all of them carried a lit tree branch, swinging it about and peering into the darkness.
"She's using magic," Dachev called. "She can make herself invisible, but she cannot move. If you bump
into her, she will reappear."
A few grunts of satisfaction.
"There are two ways we can do this," Dachev continued, voice ringing over the shuffle of footsteps and
the spit of the torches. "Competition or cooperation."
"I help no one," club-man's voice rumbled. "I find it, it is mine."
"Then you do that. Those who want to help me find her, come here and we'll split up, do this
systematically."
"And then you will take her," someone said.
A chorus of agreement.
"No, then I will let you have her. All who help me will get a turn. And when you are done, she is mine. If [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]