[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Lamaril put his hand to the rod and pulled it back. For a period of several
moments the glow of that inscription remained and then was gone. There was a
shifting among the Sindona and Lamaril's lips now set in a grim straight line.
Kadiya was aware of an uneasiness which was not active fear, but rather that
which might follow direct disobedience of some old command, as it had been
with Jagun when they had first taken the road to Yatlan forbidden to his
people by very ancient Oaths.
Lamaril swung left. But no stream had worn this way  it must have been long
dammed by the wall of crystals. This was a tumble of rock, looking loose and
dangerous to the footing. It showed as a sweep from above where the wall had
seemingly given way.
They shed their packs and lashed them together in bundles. Their cloaks
followed, as they stripped
for the ordeal of that climb. Kadiya looked to Salin  could the frail Uisgu
woman do this?
However, the wisewoman showed no uneasiness. She had slung her staff to her
back and stood now, her hands outstretched before her, flexing her fin¬gers as
if to prepare them for finding proper holds.
The Hassitti had already clustered at the foot of that slide and now the
small ones started to test holds. Their clawed feet and forepaws proved to be
highly fitted to the task and they went up eagerly, followed at a slower pace
by Jagun and the Uisgu. Twice they froze tightly to holds as loosened rocks
gave way to thud downward.
Kadiya made sure her sword was well fastened in its sheath and left her short
spear with her pack.
How good a climber she might be she could not tell until she put herself to
that task, but perhaps she could still aid Salin. She motioned toward the
coiled rope on a Sindona pack.
"Together " she thought to the wisewoman.
Lamaril, though she had not aimed the mind send at him, turned sharply. But
he did not object. Rather he took the rope from his comrade and held it out to
the girl.
At first Salin shook her head and drew back. But Kadiya, without warning,
threw a loop of the rope about the little Oddling and had it knotted before
the wisewoman could slip away. Resolutely the girl turned to the slope. Behind
her Lamaril stood ready at the fore of the larger and heavier Sindona.
Page 140
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
22
Kadiya had never tested her strength against the raw stone of such a climb
before. There were no heights in the swamplands. However, she knew better than
to look anywhere but straight at the wall of rubble before her. There were
cracks enough to afford finger and toe holds, but whether they might support
her weight was another matter. She was only too aware that some had shifted
under the passage of the smaller and lighter Oddlings.
It was a slow matter, this testing as best she could of each grip before she
trusted her full weight to it. Her fingertips bruised and her nails broke
against the stone as she fought to find crevices large enough to take the toes
of her boots. But advance she did. And so did Salin. The rope between them did
not tighten; so far the Uisgu woman was able to match Kadiya's climb. Then,
under the girl's right boot, a stone moved. Frantically she dug her hands into
an
upper hold which held her spread-eagled against the treacherous rock slide.
Fingers gripped her ankle; she could feel the de¬termined force of the hold
even through her foot covering. A moment later her toe was slammed into a
space where it held steady. But she was shaking, and chill as was the breeze
which lapped at them as they climbed, she was sweating. Drops ran down her
chin from under the edge of her helm.
She held where she was, trying to steady her nerves, to find the courage to
hunt out new holds above. Somehow she was able to do so. Finger hold, toe
hold, she fought upward. Then hands reached down to fasten about her wrists,
steady her, and lend strength to bring her, belly down, over the rim. Still on
her hands and knees Kadiya scrambled away from the drop and felt the pull of
the rope about her as Smail and one of the Hassitti closed hand on it to draw
Salin also onto the dubious safety of their perch.
Perch it was for they had not reached the top of the cliff. Here was a ledge
where they could get to their feet and stand backs to the rise, the battered
scree up which they had made their way almost at their feet. Once erect Kadiya
could see whence that slide had come. This ledge had been much wider but there
were cracks across it, plain evidence that most of its width had broken off to
cascade to the dried streambed.
There was something else. Kadiya raised her head higher, her nostrils
expanded, as she strove to catch that odor. Faint, but still it was! And it
was death!
"The plague!" She set the danger into words as
well as sent out a shaft of thought. There was no blighted vegetation here,
no form of life the fungus could have fed upon, yet there was no mistaking
that wafted stench.
Those beside her made room as Lamaril swung up to the ledge. He must have
been right behind her. She wondered fleetingly if it had been his hand which
had reset her footing.
Page 141
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Their perch narrowed where the worst of the fall had occurred and they edged
along it with their back to the wall, taking the same care the climb had
demanded. The larger Sindona needed to venture very close to the edge to
travel at all. And over all was that stench of plague.
Yet the ledge must be their road for it ran on past the crystalline barrier
above the dammed streambed. Lamaril and Fahiel of the guard scraped by the
others, steadied by those they passed as they went. Before them scuttled the
Hassitti. There seemed to be a new eagerness among the small ones from Yatlan,
as if they were engaged in a race.
The barrier was wide and the ledge narrowed even more, until those leading
them dropped to the top of the barrier wall itself. They could see ahead; the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]