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bit of terror, Nylan? asked Ryba.
Ayrlyn frowned, but stepped back from the marshal as Ryba edged the roan
closer to the engineer.
 What?
 Terrifying that poor sot.
 He s not a sot, ser, said Berlis.  He s a worthless hunk of meat. Then
she paused.  I have to admit that the engineer scared me for an instant, and I
didn t even know what he was saying.
 I m waiting, Nylan, said Ryba lightly.
The engineer finally shrugged.  A little applied psychology and a menacing
tone in a foreign accent. His head throbbed slightly as he said the words,
and he frowned.
 Psychology, my left toe, muttered Ayrlyn under her breath.  Wizardry,
plain and simple.
Nylan flushed, but Ryba had eased her mount back slightly and missed the
byplay. The engineer said more loudly, to catch Ryba s ear,  I still need to
go down and check the brickworks. There s nothing I can do here right now, and
I want to get the tower ready to live in.
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Ryba opened her mouth, closed it, then said,  All right. I trust you ll use
your senses to scout the way.
The slight emphasis on  senses was not lost on the engineer, and he
nodded.  I will, Marshal.
 Thank you, Honored Mage. She flushed at the title.  And Istril and Siret
can ride with you. She laughed.  The silver angels.
Nylan frowned before he realized that the three of them all had the bright
silver hair created by the underjump that had brought them to the Roof of the
World.
 Siret can take Llyselle s mount, continued Ryba.  You can try one of the
captured ones. They look spiritless enough even for you.
Nylan nodded.  That s fine.
 & what was all that about?
Nylan caught the question Siret whispered to Ayrlyn as he climbed into the
saddle of the old bay.
 A little formality, that s all, Ayrlyn answered Siret in a dry tone.
After settling himself into the saddle, Nylan gingerly flicked the reins of
the bay and followed Berlis and Istril toward the descending ridge road. As he
bounced along, he wondered why he d insisted on going to the brickworks. Was
he worried that the brigands had found it and damaged it? Or because he had to
do something after looking so stupid?
Belatedly recalling Ryba s admonition, he tried to sense beyond the trail
that was still not a road, for all the travel between the clayworks and the
tower. Slowly, he caught up with the marines.
 I ll go first, suggested Istril,  then the engineer.
Nylan started to object, then shut his mouth. If anything went wrong, with
only three of them, it didn t really matter where he rode. Besides, given all
the dead brigands, why would any who had survived stick around?
 Hate this frigging place, said Siret, now riding behind Nylan.  Everyone
out to kill us, just because we re women.
 They seem to want to kill me and Gerlich as well, Nylan answered.  And
Merlin might have had something to say about it. They don t seem to like any
strangers.
 You re different, ser. Siret s voice held less anger.  The men here&
they re not human.
 Even Narliat?
 He s the same as the rest. He s just scared stiff of us, especially the
captain, the second, and you, ser. Especially you, ser.
Why him? Ryba was far deadlier than Nylan. Why, Nylan couldn t hit someone
with a slug-thrower at nearly point-blank range.
The three rode down from the next rise in the rising and falling trail, and
when Nylan glanced back, he saw only the sky, the plateau rocks, and the
trees. Istril had opened more distance between them, and her head swung from
side to side, her head cocked almost as though she were trying to listen for
trouble or even sniff it out.
Nylan tried to follow her example, looking, sensing&
They continued down the winding trail, nearly silently, when a vague sense
of unease drifted, as if on the wind, toward Nylan. He squinted, and looked
toward the tall evergreens to the left, but the silence was absolute. That
bothered him. All he could smell was the scent of pine, of fir.
But there was something& somewhere&
 Ser! cried Siret.
Even before her words, Nylan had seen the flicker of motion to the left of
the trail. As he yelled  Istril! he turned in the saddle and drew and threw
his blade toward the man who had stepped clear of the thick underbrush and
leveled the bow at the slender marine who led the three angels.
In a fashion similar to working the ship s power net and the laser, Nylan
smoothed the air flow around the spinning blade, extending its range, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]