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she resists the lure of smoke as much as she can, she lives when sometimes
her life is unendurable, and someday she will pass on the power she carries,
and give Shaftal a G deon.
Shaken, chastened, Zanja could scarcely think of a response. So this was
how a woman so dishonored might reclaim her honor and even be a hero.
Yet the tragedy of Karis s life made her own tragedies seem almost ordinary.
She said,  How can I help her?
Norina said,  I guess I should have trusted you from the beginning.
It was like a river reversing its course by an act of will, with a new current
just as inevitable and irresistible as the old. Zanja must have been staring at
Norina in blank amazement, for Norina s grim expression finally gave way
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to one of sardonic humor.  Now, Zanja, get yourself in hand. The ritual
must be completed.
 You acted as your duty required, Zanja said.
 Formidable enemies can make formidable friends.
 I m hardly in a position to refuse 
 Well, that s a bit half-hearted, Norina said.
 There s no point in lying to you.
 That s true, but this little drama is for Karis, not for me. Norina glanced at
Karis.
 She s satisfied enough. She took Zanja s arm, and propelled her back to
the bench and to Karis, who got up and fiercely embraced them both.
Norina said,  You were going to let me leave.
 And you were going to go.
They examined each other rather cautiously. For the length of their
friendship, Zanja thought, Norina had been reading Karis back to herself
like a book read to a blind woman. Surely she must have been unnerved to
look up from her reading and find the other chair empty and the door
standing ajar.
Zanja said,  You re afraid that Medric knows of Karis, even though I told
him nothing?
 She created you, Norina said,  just like she created these blades we carry,
just like she created the ravens. So she is in you, and when Medric met you,
he met her as well. It may take some time for the small bit of truth he s seen
to become a whole, but if he s the seer you say he is, then it will happen.
 So I must find him, just as Karis says.
 Well, I must consult with Mabin before we do anything.
 You know that won t work, Karis said.  Giving birth will lay you up for a
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FIRE LOGIC - ELEMENTAL LOGIC BOOK 1 - LAURIE MARKS
while, and you won t even be around to consult with anyone. And if Mabin
forbids us to contact him, as I m sure she will, what then? You know that
Zanja won t stand quietly by while Mabin s assassins hunt Medric down.
 Good luck to them, said Zanja.  That man has already outsmarted the
smartest commanders in Shaftal. But no, I don t owe Mabin any loyalty.
Medric, however, deserves all the help I can give him.
Norina said,  Unlike both of you, I still answer to the councilor, and will
until I die. So what am I to do?
 Go ahead and write her a letter, Kans said.  Tell her what we re doing, but
don t ask permission.
 She won t be happy. She ll say you re overreaching yourself, and she ll
blame me.
Karis said,  Oh, I m sure she will. But you can endure it.
Chapter Twenty-one
 Don t send that letter!
Awakened by Medric s cry, Emil put an arm around him. Sometimes, when
Medric became restless in his dreams, Emil could soothe him without
awakening him. But Medric turned away, mumbling urgently.
The sky had clouded over. A summer shower would give relief from the
dust, thought Emil. He got up to check the oilcloth that covered the trunks
of books in the back of the wagon. When he returned, he found Medric
sitting up in the tangle of blankets, fumbling frantically for his spectacles.
 We re running out of time! Medric looked around himself rather wildly.
 Are you awake? Or still asleep?
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 I m not sure. I can t see.
Emil found his spectacles for him. Medric peered up at him and said,  I m
awake.
Five days they had been traveling lazily, following the wagon down the dusty
road, holding hands. It was summer, and all across Shaftal, Sainnites and
Paladins were desperately killing each other. Emil knew this holiday of his
could not last long, but still he asked,  What are we running out of time for?
 Zanja is looking for me, Medric said.  She needs us both, more urgently
than she knows. But we can t leave the books. How much further do you
think we have to go?
 Four days travel, or thereabouts. Where is she?
 Oh, I don t know. Medric disengaged himself from the blankets.  I ll tell
you if I can see a map.
Emil fetched the map and lit the lantern. When he sat down, Medric leaned
against him. Emil tucked him close and kissed his head.
 Maybe we can just ignore everything, Medric suggested.
 I don t believe that s an option you ll find in Way of the Seer. Emil kissed
him again, and unfolded the map. Medric pointed. Emil asked,
 Strongbridge? What is she doing there?
 Being a hinge of history. Medric sighed.  Oh, well. The letter s going to be
sent, and nothing I can do will stop it. If I could, maybe it wouldn t make
any difference anyway. He studied the map.  I suppose that to find me,
Zanja will go to where she knows I was last, and wait for me to come to her.
She ll wait a few days, and eventually work her way to Haprin, for she knows
I shipped my books there, doesn t she? And then she ll be able to find out
that you and I left together, and perhaps even which way we headed. So
she ll guess where we re going, because she s been to your shepherd s
cottage before, and come after us.
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FIRE LOGIC - ELEMENTAL LOGIC BOOK 1 - LAURIE MARKS
 She will, Emil agreed, stunned by the simplicity of it. So this was how Rees
Company had been systematically slaughtered, one person at a time. It was
best not to think about it.
Medric rolled up the map, and blew out the lamp.  After we ve secured the
books, we ll turn back and go to her, and meet her on the road somewhere.
Now we can sleep.
But when Emil awoke at dawn, Medric was still awake, and had spent the
night pacing back and forth, watching the clouds gather and then disperse
without issuing a single drop of ram.
Karis came home again to Meartown, to the furnaces and the forges and the
teams of gigantic horses hauling wagonloads of ore from the nearby mines.
Because Meartown was less than a day s foot journey from Strongbridge,
Norina had reluctantly let her go as she had come, alone. Norina had her
own journey home to make: to her first home, the seaside village far on the
southern coast, to the rambling house in which she had been born, and
where her older sister now ruled, a benign matriarch by all accounts. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]