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.And then Dan appeared, running down the alley.He was out of breath when he stoppedin front of Jon. It was harder than I thought.It used to be easy to buy bama, but not anymore.Undoubtedly your friend Argath s doing. But you got some? Yes, of course I got some.Did you think I d come home without any? It s not thefreshest, but it should work.Jon looked at Dan s eyes.There was nothing unusual and if he d chewed the bamahimself he d probably have been asleep under a bridge somewhere. But there s news.It s all over the city.One of the towns in the South I forget the name has been wiped off the face of the earth.There s nothing there but ruins not the trace of ahuman being.The Chosen are blaming the Witch-Queen, and they re recruiting an army for acampaign against her.Do you think the Rand will come to the aid of your old friends oncemore?What could this mean? Jon asked himself.But it couldn t be Zoë he was certain of that.Zoë wouldn t have killed without provocation.There had to be another explanation.Another scream came from above. Give him some of the stuff quick, Jon said. But not much not a whole leaf half aleaf at the most. Don t worry.I know how to take care of Krator.Chapter Six: Father and Son1They decided to confer with Alf before speaking with the Empress.Alf, Klei said, wouldknow how to deal with the situation, and Sem agreed, despite his reluctance to encounter hisfather.But Alf had been overwhelmed by the news so overwhelmed that he d failed to poseany of the questions Sem had feared having to answer. Are you sure it was Saash s sister? he asked. Jon spoke about Saash s mother and heseemed to have great trust in her, but he said nothing about any other members of the family.Klei could only tell him that Saash himself had been sure and had gone in search of Fila,hoping to find Axor and bring him back to Bent Lake.Sem had never seen his father so baffled. We have to tell the Empress what s happened to Axor, Alf said. We have to tell her assoon as possible.I wonder what Orion will say.Sem had an inkling of what his father was thinking.He knew that Orion had taken Axorto Bridgetown for the meeting between Fila and Todd.Even though Axor had been excludedfrom it, Sem was sure of a link between this meeting and Axor s kidnapping; and he suspectedthat Alf, too, suspected such a connection.Why else would he have mentioned Orion?Led by Alf, they had no difficulty securing an audience.Indeed, the Empress was eagerto see them.Once she d realized that Axor was missing, her efforts to find him had led to thecottage, and Naxa had told the Empress messenger that Axor had taken Sem with him to visit some place in the forest where the Empress used to live. This news had relieved Zoë.She wasstill angry with Orion, and her son s unaccountable departure struck her as further evidence thatmen were vexing creatures.However a journey to the Forest House was safe enough especiallywith a companion; she only wondered why Axor had made such a secret of it.But now that Semhad returned without Axor her worries had rebounded.Indeed, she was terrified.Yet what stuck in Sem s head about the meeting was the lack of outward emotion theEmpress showed when Klei explained Axor s absence.Zoë had been sitting on the high-backedchair that Naxa and Phillipa had constructed for her.No one was willing to call it a throne theterm seemed pretentious for Bent Lake but what else could it have been? Normally, the chairwould have given her an air of power.But today it seemed only to emphasize her weakness.Listening to their report, she shrank into a child on a seat made for a grown up. And you say it was Saash s sister who took him? she d asked in a curiously offhandmanner, as if she hadn t paid complete attention to what Klei had told her. Yes, Your Majesty, Klei replied softly. We have reason to believe it was Saash ssister Fila.Saash was sure about that.And then she d risen from the chair and walked slowly away.Only as she reached thedoor at the rear of the room did she pause to look back at the three men. I m sorry.I need to think, she said, and then left.Sem had known Zoë all his life, and yet those words stuck him as both strange andwonderful.The son she adored had been taken from her was dead, perhaps and yet sherefused to expose more than a hint of what she felt.Even before her oldest friends. Just like her mother, Alf said. Yes, just like her, Klei added. But what is she going to do? I can t say.I don t think she knows yet herself.But she ll do something I m certain ofthat.Zoë is not a woman who s able to sit alone and wait for events to unfold around her.Afterwards, they walked from the Imperial Compound in silence, watching the first moonrise over the eastern hills.It was just past full, and illuminated the valley with a mysteriousyellow light.Finally, Alf spoke to Klei. You can stay with me.I ve had no visitors since Jon, and you know how long ago thatwas.I ve added another room, but it s more crowded than ever.Still, you ll be welcome.That invitation meant his father had realized what Sem had not: In the past, Klei hadcome as a guest of the Empress and been given a room in the compound.Now he had no place tosleep.Sem wished he d thought of that first.His father s three rooms were indeed crowdedthere was hardly a place to move while his own family had ample space at the cottage.But Alfdoubtless wanted time with his old friend, so it was better he said nothing.Yet Klei would ratherhave stayed with him Sem was sure of that.And it was what he himself wanted as well [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]