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Lovable, who had taken a proprietary perch on his blanket-covered foot.
"Don't make my job more difficult," Plik scolded the raven. "Go tell Firekeeper how things stand."
"What happened to your face?" the raven asked, get-ting.her first look at the shaven section in the light from the
fire.
"Later," Plik said. "Go report to Firekeeper. Tell her not to kill the guard."
Lovable chortled and obediently winged off through the door Plik held open. He closed it and immediately began
talking.
"My friends have come for us," he said. "Get dressed and grab anything you need. Knowing Firekeeper, she's not
going to wait for you to pack."
"Here?" Tiniel said, getting up and beginning to pull on trousers under his nightshirt. "They came through the
gate?"
"I assume so," Plik said. "The season's all wrong here for this place to be close enough to home for them to have
come overland. Further north for one, I'd guess, but maybe the Old World is colder overall. You did tell me this place
was in the Old World."
"Right," Tiniel said. "Sorry. I think I was still asleep."
He'd buttoned his trousers and was thrusting his arms into shirt sleeves. Isende had vanished, but her voice came
from her bedroom door.
"I don't understand. How could they figure out how to use the gate without notes? We took everything with us."
"They're pretty remarkable people," Plik said smugly. "My guess is that this is going to be a quick strike. In and
out, then back through the gate. It's quite possible that the Once Dead and their people won't even know we're gone
until daylight comes and you're not at the gate waiting for the breakfast tray."
"Oh!" Isende said, her voice rising with anxiety. "Do you think all of them came?"
"Probably the entire group," Plik replied, confused. What did this matter? Why didn't Isende sound happier?
"But don't you see ..." Isende was beginning when the door swung open and Firekeeper came in, Blind Seer beside
her.
Almost as if they were still linked, the twins gaped as one, staring at the intruder, expressions filled with mingled
wonder and shock.
Plik had forgotten just how remarkable Firekeeper might appear to those who did not know her. He had now been
around a sufficient number of humans to realize that Firekeeper didn't even move like a human. She didn't move like a
wolf - that would have been impossible given that she was both bipedal and had excellent posture - but if a wolf could
move like a human, that wolf would have been Firekeeper. Then there were her eyes. They were far, far darker than
the amber and gold that glowed from the faces of most wolves, but Fire-keeper's eyes held the same unfocused yet
ever focused gaze of the pack predator, aware both of her prey and those with whom she hunted.
Firekeeper padded soundlessly into the center of the room, ran a hand through her already tousled hair, then
dropped it onto Blind Seer's shoulder.
"Guard is out," Firekeeper said in Liglimosh, evidently pleased with herself. "He still stand, though, and so until
relief come should look like is on duty. When relief due?"
Tiniel was gaping at the wolf-woman, but he closed his mouth and managed a question. "Is it past midnight?"
"Think so."
"Then not until dawn - probably. Might be sooner, though, now that the nights are getting longer."
"We have time, then," Firekeeper said. Those dark, dark eyes inspected Plik, and a smile touched them at finding
him in one piece, then a frown as he turned his head and she saw the shaven place, but she didn't ask anything. "Ready
to go?"
Isende found her voice. "But don't you see? You can't go back to the New World. If you go back, you'll carry
Divine Retribution with you and who knows how many people will die!"
XXIX
TRUTH SAT, tail wrapped around her paws, watching the prisoners. Above their gags, the Once Dead glowered
at her in undisguised hatred and resentment. The other two were more relaxed. Truth thought that Verul might even be
asleep.
The difference, she thought, between believing one has power, and knowing that one does not.
Eshinarvash was standing near the opening to the outdoors. "I hear sounds from the direction of the menagerie."
"An alarm?"
"No. Success, I think. Small whimpers and cries of joy. I doubt a human would even hear them."
"What do you smell?"
The stallion's nostrils flared. When he angled his head to catch the correct wind, his long mane danced on the
currents. He was a beautiful enough beast that Truth could look at him with admiration uncolored by the least trace of
hunger.
"Many beasts," Eshinarvash said. "Some tainted by illness and rot. There is a touch of blood as well. Human, I
think. Yes. Human."
"Well, as long as it doesn't belong to either of our humans," Truth said, "that's all right I am beginning to
understand why the Royal Beasts strove to drive the Old Country rulers from the land. I wonder at the courage our
ancestors showed in being willing to make truce with them."
"Courage," the horse said, stamping one hoof against the stone, "or necessity. Ah... Here come the first, led by
Onion."
"It will be impossibly crowded if they all come in here," Truth said, "nor do I think these will have any love for
walls. Suggest they remain outside, but remind them to be quiet."
The Wise Horse raised his tail and deposited a few round droppings on the floor.
"I will do so," he said with such mildness that Truth was left to ponder whether the defecation had been deliberate
insult or not.
"Here come our humans," Eshinarvash added. He trotted out of the doorway and a few moments later returned
with Derian and Harjeedian. Both men were quiet, and there was something odd about how Derian shied when Truth
came over to greet him.
Harjeedian gave the Wise Jaguar a respectful bow, gathered up the pack of medical supplies he had not carried
with him to the menagerie, and, after saying a few inconsequential words to Derian, quickly departed.
Truth lashed her tail. "Derian has never shown so much fear of me before, only healthy respect. Can you find out
what happened?"
Eshinarvash snorted. "Maybe if you go outside. Ask the others what happened. Derian seems to take comfort from
me. Together we can guard these four and I will see if Derian will talk."
Truth was glad enough to leave the enclosed building and her glowering prisoners. She leapt lightly over the still
steaming horse apples, and padded over to where Onion was supervising Harjeedian's inspection of a paw-sized sore
on a young wolf's shoulder.
"Derian is edgy," Truth said. "What happened?"
Onion gave his own shoulder a quick, nervous lick in sympathy for the injured wolf before offering reply.
"We told you some of what was done to us by those who imprisoned us here. We did not wish to be thought
whining pups, so we did not tell you everything - all the torments they heaped upon us for no other reason than that it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]