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• Trylogia Lando Calrissiana.02.Lando Calrissian i Ogniowicher Oseona (2)
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.Farther from the lakeshore, however, there was mountain meadow and beyond that forest.Running felt good after the pastseveral days of creeping and climbing.The kinks in the wolf-woman's muscles smoothed out and the dry grass underfoot feltlike a carpet after the sharp stones of the Barren River Canyon.Wolf-like, she didn't brood about the inevitable descent.That would be dealt with in its time.Nor did she brood about thesummons from the Royal Beasts.Elation had assured her that if they pushed on past dark they could round the lake before thenext dawn.Pushing forward, therefore, was what the wolf-woman concentrated on.The answers would come of themselvesand time.Several times they stopped to rest and nap.Firekeeper ate only lightly, accepting what Elation brought her with humblegroveling.Elation's finds were worth the thanks, indeed.Although the peregrine herself ate nothing but flesh and thatpreferably not only warm but still pulsing with the life of the creature that had grown it Elation had made herself a scholarof human tastes.Twice she brought chunks of honeycomb, clotted with crystallized sugar.Once she brought a tattered bunchof wild grapes, tart and juicy.Nuts were awkward for the falcon to carry, but after Firekeeper cobbled her a sack from a stilldamp rabbit hide, the falcon brought them in such quantity that Firekeeper found herself wondering what squirrel wouldstarve that winter.The wolf-woman spared little sympathy for the squirrel, but cracked the nutshells in her fist or between her jaws as sheran.Day dimmed into dusk.The night sky darkened and then gleamed with hard, white stars.The moon rose, thin now, butfattening.At last a shifting wind brought Firekeeper the scents of many beasts gathered together.From the depths of theforest, a pale white form bounded to meet them at the tree line's edge."Mother!" Firekeeper howled in delight.She rolled on the ground at the silver wolf's feet, rubbing her head against the she-wolf's jaw and whining in aningratiating fashion.The wolf gaped open her jaws in a fashion a human would have found alarming.No food came forth, butFirekeeper, who had often been fed this way, reached inside the fanged jaws and touched the lolling tongue."Mother," she repeated, more quietly.The she-wolf licked her, then licked Blind Seer, who rubbed against the silver wolf, almost knocking her off her feet withthe force of his greeting."You've grown," said the One Female approvingly, "as has Little Two-legs.The hunting is good east of the mountains?"Blind Seer gave a short barking laugh."It could be.Not only are there deer and elk and rabbits, but the humans keepcreatures they make stupid so that they can control them.Horses are not bad some of them have spirit but sheep andchickens beg to be eaten.What threat is a cow, especially when she has had her horns sawn off, or a bull once he's beengelded?""You hunted such?" The One Female's tone mixed curiosity and a certain degree of disgust or maybe envy."No," Blind Seer drawled."Instead, humans trembling in fear of my size and power carried already killed meat to me onsheets of beaten metal.I grew fat without effort and would have grown fatter but for the need to watch over sweetFirekeeper."Firekeeper snorted and punched the blue-eyed wolf in the shoulder.She glanced from side to side, sniffing the air."Is the One Male with you, Mother?""No.He remained to mind the pack.The puppies are growing both bold and stupid.We did not dare leave them with onlythe lesser wolves to discipline them."The next moments passed as the One Female brought them up to date on the status of their pack a fairly large one, as thehunting in their territory was good and the Ones wise leaders.A yearling had broken his back in a fall.A two-year-old haddispersed and was reported to be hunting with a single male to the northwest.Two of last spring's puppies had died: one of afever or some poison, another from tangling too boldly with an elk."Elk do have horns or rather antlers," the One Female commented mildly, "and none of his birth siblings will forget thatlesson."Firekeeper nodded somberly.She had experienced such losses before.A Royal Wolf pack did not produce pups every yearas did the Cousins, but if its size diminished, the answering urge replied.In all her life with the wolves, she could only recalltwo years and one of those dimly that there had not been pups in the spring, and never once had every member of a littersurvived into the following spring."Others wait," the One Female said, turning the conversation away from family matters, "to meet you and speak with you.Would you rest first?"Firekeeper considered."What do you advise?""Cry sleep," the One Female said promptly."Bee Biter reported when you began this day's run.None will doubt that youare tired.""I am, most honestly," Firekeeper admitted, smothering a yawn behind her hand."Then rest," the One Female said."If you need food, I will hunt for you.Best that you face these questioners with a clearmind and full belly."Blind Seer growled as at a faintly scented danger."Mother, they don't intend to harm Firekeeper, do they? I must warn you, if they have summoned her so far only to hurther, I will spill their blood and all of mine if that is what is needed to defend her."The One Female nipped him lightly on his left ear [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]