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.“Never mind,” she finished.“Are you hungry?” he asked.“No, I do not think so.”He nodded and stood up.“Then you should rest.I will sit vigil.”Was he not going to sleep? Wynn knew it was pointless to argue.She unrolled one of the mats and a blanket on her bunk ledge, realizing she was tired.When she settled there, Osha had dropped back to a cross-legged position in the middle of her cabin.Wynn had assumed he would be outside in the hall, or in the next cabin over, with his own door wide to keep an eye on things—but not in the middle of her own room.Suddenly sheepish, she pulled the blanket up and rolled toward the cabin’s hull wall.A few moons past, Wynn would have been shocked at the prospect of sleeping in the belly of a living ship with an anmaglâhk just beyond arm’s reach.But she closed her eyes, feeling safe, and quickly drifted off.Sgäile awoke the following dawn, dreading every step to come.He breathed in the fresh air, trying to center himself, but the name the ancestors had given Léshil was always in his thoughts.Léshiârelaohk—Sorrow-Tear’s Champion.A half-blood had been recognized as a full an’Cróan.But even such an honor from the ancestors did not justify what Brot’ân’duivé asked—no, insisted upon.Only Anmaglâhk and clan elders went to the hidden place of the Chein’âs—the Burning Ones.Sgäile’s own grandfather, Gleannéohkân’thva, had once gone to them, but only in the company of Brot’ân’duivé.Léshil stirred in the bedroll he shared with Magiere and gently gripped her shoulder.Chap remained curled up at their feet.Sgäile got up and looked about, wandering a short distance from their camp.Years had passed since his last journey through the southern coastal region of his people, but he had always appreciated the terrain.Coarser than the inlands, this place held its own beauty.Once beyond the shoreline trees, the granite shelves of the foothills climbed like behemoth steps toward the mountains.Their deep shade of blue-gray was dotted with stands of evergreens and patched dusky moss.The occasional firs or aspens grew at subtle angles from sea winds.The forest here was not as thick and varied as in the heart of his homeland.With a vast sky overhead, he could see for leagues, until he looked upslope to those stepped foothills.Thankfully, they would not go as far as the peaks.With his back to the camp, Sgäile fished into his tunic’s front and pulled out what Brot’ân’duivé had forced on him.A lump of basalt, worn smooth by river water.He turned it in his palm, studying its hand-etched patterns and swirls, and not one mark repeated.Between the tangled lines were dots and independent strokes, but he had no idea what the markings meant, and the Greimasg’äh’s instructions for its use did not yet make sense.“Breakfast?” Léshil called from the dead campfire.“Or should we travel a ways first?”Magiere was already reaching for her hauberk and sword.Chap stood up, yawned widely, and stretched all his limbs, one by one.Sgäile sighed, tucked away the stone, and returned to his charges.Another unpleasant task awaited before they could move on.“What’s wrong?” Magiere asked.Sgäile found her watching him suspiciously.He went to his pack and retrieved two long strips of black cloth and unbound the rope tied to the pack.“Another requirement.one you will not like.”Magiere tensed, and Léshil’s eyes fixed on the rope.A direct approach, clean and quick, was best with Magiere.Sgäile held up the strips of cloth.“We did not travel far before making camp.Our true journey begins today, but only if you adhere to what I require.The place we seek is a guarded secret, known only to some elders of the Äruin’nas and the an’Cróan.and those who have proven themselves among the Anmaglâhk.I cannot allow you to know its location.”“What are you talking about?” Léshil asked.“You must wear blindfolds,” Sgäile answered.“All of the way, both in and out.You will swear on your honor not to remove them.or I will not take you another step.”Magiere snorted, black hair loose around her pale face and hard eyes.“This just keeps getting better,” she muttered.“You think we’d ever agree to this?”Chap crept in without a sound.As Sgäile looked into the eyes of this strange majay-hì from the outside world, he felt even more uncertain than when the dog had faced him down in the skiff.More than once, Chap had demonstrated ways to communicate his expectations.But would the majay-hì now support him in gaining what he needed from Magiere and Léshil?Sgäile had no wish to defy one so deeply touched with the element of Spirit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]