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.“You should speak so that our guest might understand.”Roakh cocked his head sideways and looked at Hweilan.A shiver went down her spine, and she felt suddenly very helpless.One of her Uncle Soran’s knights had once told her stories of great battles, how the corpses might lie for days under a sun broken by clouds of ravens.The dead were lucky.Those who were too wounded to move had to wait for one of the healers to find themif there were any combing the battlefield, and many times, there weren’t.That, or the youngest squires whose job it was to wander the battlefield with a knife and slit the throat of any living too far gone to heal.Those who were found by neither waited for the ravens.As little Hweilan, no more than six or seven at the time, had listened, she had imagined lying there helpless, surrounding by corpses and buzzing flies, having only the strength to breathe and close her mouth to keep out the flies.A rustle of feathers, and she’d look up to see the pitiless black eye of a raven and the long beak the instant before it jabbed right into her eye.The raven, hopping among the corpses, looking for a tasty morsel … that was the look that this Roakh gave her now.“And what is our guest’s name?” he said.Hweilan stood there staring.“No one likes a coward,” Menduarthis whispered.“Hweilan,” she said.“Of Highwatch.”“Highwatch,” said Roakh.He closed his eyes, leaned his head back, and smiled.“Stone houses in the mountains.Damarans so far from home.Nar at their feet.Dwarves dig-dig-digging deeper at Damarans’ demands.Ahh … Hweilan.Hweilan is not a Damaran name.”Hweilan returned his stare.He hadn’t asked a question, and something about his manner was stirring Hweilan’s anger.“Haven’t brought us another liar, have you, Menduarthis?” said Roakh.Menduarthis gave the silence no chance to become uncomfortable.He looked down at Hweilan and said, “Answer him.”Hweilan kept her gaze fixed on Roakh.“He didn’t ask me anything.”Roakh threw back his head and laugheda raucous guffaw in which Hweilan heard the sound of a corpse-hungry raven.“Oh, I like this one! I can’t quite decide which way my hopes should go.”Hweilan gave him a quizzical look.“It is my honor to take you to our queen,” Roakh said.“If you please her, it will be my job to take you back out again.If not … well, Kunin Gatar is a most kind and benevolent ruler, and she usually allows me to eat unpleasant guests.” He smiled, and Hweilan saw that his tiny teeth were very sharp.“After she’s done with them, that is.But alas.I’ve just eaten, and I’m not at all hungry.So you see, I’m not quite sure whether I should be hoping you live or die.”“That’s enough, Roakh,” send Menduarthis.Roakh slipped off the shard of ice and stepped toward them.He had a hunched way of walking, his arms and head both thrust forward, but even standing up straight he would have had to look up at Hweilan’s shoulder.“True enough,” he said.“If things don’t go my way today, there’s always tomorrow.Let’s test fortune’s favor, shall we?”He held one hand toward the wall, and Hweilan saw a yawning passageway through the ice.It hadn’t been there a moment ago.It was higher than the main gates of Highwatch, and wide enough for four horsemen to have ridden in side by side.A few steps led upwardeither ice or a pale marble, she couldn’t be sure.But beyond that, the light failed.Roakh leading, Menduarthis following, they entered the palace of Kunin Gatar. Ž Inside the palace, the cold pressed in, making the air heavy.As the light, dim as it was, of the outside world faded, the darkness took them.Menduarthis stepped beside Hweilan, took her arm, and led her onward.The stairs were shallow and widely spaced.Even in the dark Hweilan had no trouble despite their gentle curve.The only sounds were their footsteps, their breathing, and the frost of Hweilan’s breath whispering to the ground in a fine frost.“Can we not have some light, Roakh?” said Menduarthis.In front of her, a raven cawed, followed by the flap of wings.Instinctively, Hweilan squeezed her eyes shut.But the bird was moving away.She opened her eyes and could see.Set along the wall at every dozen paces or so were misshapen pillars, black as onyx but gleaming as if wet.From the top, a sort of waterfall of frost and fog, its stream no wider than her hand, fell away into a basin.The frost and fog glowed with blue light, dimmer than lamplight, but the walls seemed made entirely of ice, and they caught the glow and reflected it back a thousand times.The stairway ended a dozen steps above them.They stepped onto a landing, broader than a tourney field.It was lit in the same manner as the stairway.Hweilan could not see the ceiling.The walls went up and up until they were swallowed by darkness.Many doorways lined the walls.Some led into halls, others to stairs leading down.But to their left, a passage opened large enough for a parade, and more steps led up.“That is our way,” said Menduarthis.From the stairway came a raucous cry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“You should speak so that our guest might understand.”Roakh cocked his head sideways and looked at Hweilan.A shiver went down her spine, and she felt suddenly very helpless.One of her Uncle Soran’s knights had once told her stories of great battles, how the corpses might lie for days under a sun broken by clouds of ravens.The dead were lucky.Those who were too wounded to move had to wait for one of the healers to find themif there were any combing the battlefield, and many times, there weren’t.That, or the youngest squires whose job it was to wander the battlefield with a knife and slit the throat of any living too far gone to heal.Those who were found by neither waited for the ravens.As little Hweilan, no more than six or seven at the time, had listened, she had imagined lying there helpless, surrounding by corpses and buzzing flies, having only the strength to breathe and close her mouth to keep out the flies.A rustle of feathers, and she’d look up to see the pitiless black eye of a raven and the long beak the instant before it jabbed right into her eye.The raven, hopping among the corpses, looking for a tasty morsel … that was the look that this Roakh gave her now.“And what is our guest’s name?” he said.Hweilan stood there staring.“No one likes a coward,” Menduarthis whispered.“Hweilan,” she said.“Of Highwatch.”“Highwatch,” said Roakh.He closed his eyes, leaned his head back, and smiled.“Stone houses in the mountains.Damarans so far from home.Nar at their feet.Dwarves dig-dig-digging deeper at Damarans’ demands.Ahh … Hweilan.Hweilan is not a Damaran name.”Hweilan returned his stare.He hadn’t asked a question, and something about his manner was stirring Hweilan’s anger.“Haven’t brought us another liar, have you, Menduarthis?” said Roakh.Menduarthis gave the silence no chance to become uncomfortable.He looked down at Hweilan and said, “Answer him.”Hweilan kept her gaze fixed on Roakh.“He didn’t ask me anything.”Roakh threw back his head and laugheda raucous guffaw in which Hweilan heard the sound of a corpse-hungry raven.“Oh, I like this one! I can’t quite decide which way my hopes should go.”Hweilan gave him a quizzical look.“It is my honor to take you to our queen,” Roakh said.“If you please her, it will be my job to take you back out again.If not … well, Kunin Gatar is a most kind and benevolent ruler, and she usually allows me to eat unpleasant guests.” He smiled, and Hweilan saw that his tiny teeth were very sharp.“After she’s done with them, that is.But alas.I’ve just eaten, and I’m not at all hungry.So you see, I’m not quite sure whether I should be hoping you live or die.”“That’s enough, Roakh,” send Menduarthis.Roakh slipped off the shard of ice and stepped toward them.He had a hunched way of walking, his arms and head both thrust forward, but even standing up straight he would have had to look up at Hweilan’s shoulder.“True enough,” he said.“If things don’t go my way today, there’s always tomorrow.Let’s test fortune’s favor, shall we?”He held one hand toward the wall, and Hweilan saw a yawning passageway through the ice.It hadn’t been there a moment ago.It was higher than the main gates of Highwatch, and wide enough for four horsemen to have ridden in side by side.A few steps led upwardeither ice or a pale marble, she couldn’t be sure.But beyond that, the light failed.Roakh leading, Menduarthis following, they entered the palace of Kunin Gatar. Ž Inside the palace, the cold pressed in, making the air heavy.As the light, dim as it was, of the outside world faded, the darkness took them.Menduarthis stepped beside Hweilan, took her arm, and led her onward.The stairs were shallow and widely spaced.Even in the dark Hweilan had no trouble despite their gentle curve.The only sounds were their footsteps, their breathing, and the frost of Hweilan’s breath whispering to the ground in a fine frost.“Can we not have some light, Roakh?” said Menduarthis.In front of her, a raven cawed, followed by the flap of wings.Instinctively, Hweilan squeezed her eyes shut.But the bird was moving away.She opened her eyes and could see.Set along the wall at every dozen paces or so were misshapen pillars, black as onyx but gleaming as if wet.From the top, a sort of waterfall of frost and fog, its stream no wider than her hand, fell away into a basin.The frost and fog glowed with blue light, dimmer than lamplight, but the walls seemed made entirely of ice, and they caught the glow and reflected it back a thousand times.The stairway ended a dozen steps above them.They stepped onto a landing, broader than a tourney field.It was lit in the same manner as the stairway.Hweilan could not see the ceiling.The walls went up and up until they were swallowed by darkness.Many doorways lined the walls.Some led into halls, others to stairs leading down.But to their left, a passage opened large enough for a parade, and more steps led up.“That is our way,” said Menduarthis.From the stairway came a raucous cry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]