[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

the crevice. It was gritty, frozen hard. Not in the slightest mushy. "Like
Punja crystals--hard and sharp and glittery."
"Only this is real ice." Del rubbed fingertips together. "Like the ice-caves
near Staal-Ysta."
"But this is the South."
She shrugged. "A sixth-month ago, I would have said there could be no such
thing. But that same sixth-month ago, I'd have said there would be no need to
find a Southron sorcerer in order to discharge a sword."
I grunted. "We don't seem to be doing much other than sitting here discussing
ice."
"It odd," she growled. "An ice-cave in the South?"
is
"So maybe it's a holdover from when there was no Southron desert, or Northern
snowfields...
maybe the world they made was nothing but a world, with no divisions at all."
I shifted, rose carefully, rubbed at a stiffened neck. "Are we going on?"
Del got up, bent, kept going.
I stopped moving, because I had to. Held my posture, all bent over, with the
wrapped sheath in one hand. Felt the uneven thumping in my chest.
I couldn't breathe.
"Bascha--"
Del was murmuring up ahead. She didn't know I'd stopped.
I shut my eyes. Gritted teeth. Scrubbed sweat off my face, and banged an elbow
into rock.
Swore beneath my breath, then set a hand against broken stone and tried to
retain my senses.
He knew. Chosa knew.
I was light-headed. Dots filled my eyes, already straining to see. If I could
see, and breathe--
"Tiger?" It echoed oddly from somewhere ahead.
She'd realized I wasn't behind her. I heard scraping, a hissed invective; she
came back to my side, rubbing the top of her head. "What's wrong?"
In choppy gasps, I expelled it. "He's here. Somewhere. Shaka."
She stopped rubbing her head, looking more alertly into my eyes. "Which way?"
"There's only--one way to go--unless we head out again--" I swallowed heavily.
"Hard--to breathe--in here."
Frowning, she moved closer. "Can you go on?"
"Have to," I muttered.
She didn't say anything. Then put a hand on my arm. "I swear, I won't leave
you again. What I
did in the Punja was wrong. I left for the oasis because I thought it would
make you follow--and
I knew it wasn't far. Tiger--" Her face was strained. "I want you purged of
Chosa, so you can be you again. But I don't want to hurt you. If this is too
Page 189
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
hard--"
"No." I sucked in a breath. "I've done harder things. It's just--everything.
This place--Chosa...
and Shaka. All the weight pressing down ..." I scrubbed sweat from my face.
"If I could breathe again..."
She touched my chest. "Slow down," she said softly. "We need be in no hurry."
Breathlessly, I nodded. Then motioned her to go on. "I'll be right behind."
Light glowed dimly. It glittered off bits of ice and leached shadows from
crevices.
"Ahead," Del said.
I clutched the sheathed jivatma, dripping sweat as I moved. I wondered
absently if the droplets would freeze to ice. My feet were so cold they ached,
but I didn't say anything. Del was barefoot, too.
She stopped. White samite glowed. She turned her face back to shadow; to me.
"It's a crack in the rock," she said. "Wide enough for a body ... it runs up
through the roof. There's light, and fresh air. Do you want to go through
first?"
"You don't understand," I said thickly. "I'm not afraid, bascha--that passed
some time ago. This is--different. This is--
power."
She tensed. "Power?"
"Don't you feel it?"
"I feel... odd."
I nodded. "Power."
"Are you sick?"
"You mean--like usual?" I shrugged. "I'm so cold I can't tell."
She smiled. "Poor Tiger. At least I have Umir's burnous. I could share--"
I grunted. "Keep it. I'm not much for feathers and beads, no matter how much
they cost."
"Do you want to go first?"
"Fine." I squeezed past her, moved into the narrow crack, stepped out into
daylight.
And into Shaka Obre.
"Hoolies--" I fell to my knees. Retched. Dropped harness and sheath and sword.
"Oh, gods--
Del
--
"
She was through. She took a step, then froze. Murmured something in awed
uplander.
"--get out--" I gasped. "--got to--get out--
"
Shaka Obre was everywhere.
Pressure flattened me. I tried to get up again, but my scrabbling earned me
nothing. I lay sprawled belly-down with my cheek pressed into pale, gritty
sand, while blazing ice crystals blinded me. Because I couldn't shut my eyes.
My guts knotted. Squeezed. My belly turned inside out.
"--
bascha--
"
Del didn't move.
It was nearly bright as day. It way day, inside; the place we had come into
was open to the sky.
But I couldn't look up to see it, because I couldn't move.
Fingers twitched. Hands spasmed. Toes dug fruitlessly.
Page 190
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"It's Shaka," Del breathed.
I knew that already.
"Shaka's everywhere.
"
I knew that, too.
"I can't see him, but he's here. I can feel all the power--" She sucked in an
audible breath. "Is this what it's like to taste the magic?"
How in hoolies did know? I was too busy trying to breathe to think about how
things tasted.
I
Del knelt down next to me. "It's Chosa, isn't it?"
"Shaka," I gasped hoarsely. "He knows ... he knows about Chosa--"
A hand was on my back. "Can you get up?"
"I'm too tired to try."
"Here." The hand closed on my shoulder, pressing against rigid flesh. "I'll
help--"
It did help. I heaved myself up, managed to sit, then collapsed against the
wall. The rock was very cold, but I was too limp to move. I drew up both knees
and pressed an arm across my abdomen. My whole body wanted to cramp.
"We brought him here," I rasped. "Chosa--we brought him here."
"We had to," she said.
I rolled my skull against sharp rock. "We made a mistake. They'll tear me to
bits, both of them...
hoolies, it's a mistake..."
"Tiger." She touched a knee. "It had to be done. You couldn't spend the rest
of your life fighting a sword. One day, you would have failed, and Chosa would
have had you."
"He has me now. He has me now, and Shaka has him
--" I grimaced. "Don't you see? One of them has to lose--and I'm caught in the
middle."
The hand tightened. "I can't believe Shaka would put you at risk. He caused
Jamail to speak."
"Then why not restore me?" I
scraped myself off rock and sat fully upright, tipping my head back to stare
up through the massive mountain chimney to the blue sky overhead. "Restore me,
Shaka! So I can fight Chosa, too!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]