[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
extinguishing all sound, for a little while Clement understood why
Emil, a man of extraordinary rationality, could subscribe to such a
mystical philosophy.
We think the past is over, said the raven, speaking Medric s words.
To us that s fact. But by water logic, the past is present.
You know as little of water logic as I do, Karis snapped. You re
reciting from a book.
Reading, actually the book is right here on my lap, said the seer.
And it s a good thing I know how to read.
Emil said, Medric, please don t test Karis s temper tonight. Has
Zanja been taken by water magic? Say yes, or say no.
Yes, said the Medric-Raven.
A water witch is meddling with my business, and you didn t see fit
to tell me? Karis said in outrage.
No.
Medric seemed to have given his entire answer. By the dim lantern
light Clement saw Emil lay a hand on Karis s forearm. I assume
you re unwilling to explain why, or you would have done so already.
But will you tell us where, or what?
She lies not too far from here, in a cottage on the south shore, near a
horseshoe bend of the river, where there s an old man who s blind
and knits. She s been mostly drowned and nearly frozen, but to her
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
that s not much worse than a hiccup.
There s no such place, Karis said. And she certainly isn t there.
The Medric-Raven said, No, not now. But two hundred years ago
there was. And she is.
Their dreary wait for daylight became an impatient one. Karis
wanted to travel north to find a water witch she had met once in a
border tribe, and she and Emil argued about the wisdom and
practicality of this venture. With Zanja gone, he pointed out, no one
in Shaftal could even speak the Otter Elder s language, even if the
old man was still alive. And he reminded her, several times, that an
air witch was trying to assassinate her. Zanja will find her own way
back to you, he said. After six years with her, how is it possible you
don t trust her to do so?
At dawn, Herme rousted his company and set them to work at
clearing snow. The farmers served pot after pot of porridge, as
quickly as they could cook it. By the time the sixty of them began the
march to Watfield, columns of sunlight supported a cracking ceiling
of clouds. They walked from sunlight to shadow to sunlight, and
weary people grumbled in two languages that they didn t know
whether to sweat or shiver.
Clement found Seth with the dogs at the rear of the column, plodding
wearily in the trampled snow. They walked together for half the
morning without saying a word to each other. Once only, Seth
glanced sideways at Clement, and her expression was so full of
contradictions that Clement could make nothing of it.
Emil walked ahead with Saleen, and Karis spent most of the journey
in the very front, doing the hard work of trampling a path in the
fresh snow. Eventually both of them fell back. The dogs pushed up to
be near Karis and she rested her big hands on their heads. The dogs
grinned up at her, seeming very pleased by her approval.
I like that captain of yours, Emil said to Clement. His name is
Herme? Can he read and write? Does he speak Shaftalese?
No, no, and no. And you can t recruit him to the Paladins. He s going
west with me, to be a new garrison commander s lieutenant. It will
break his company s heart to lose him, though.
Seth looked at Clement sharply. You re going west? she said.
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
I must. I have a problem there that only I can resolve.
Emil said, The Paladin irregulars have always avoided direct
attacks on the garrisons because it would take too many people and
too much heavy artillery. What will it take for you to break into a
garrison by force?
You Paladins were wise with your resources, said Clement. It
would require a battalion, at least, and a great deal more time than I
have.
And I don t want armed battalions marching the countryside again.
I ll bring only thirty people a commander and five lieutenants for
each garrison. And no weapons.
But the mutineers won t open the gates and let you in, Emil said,
no more than our own rebels will open their own gates to Karis. To
do so would be an admission they were wrong, and it s both too late
and too early for that.
You think you know Heras, Emil, but you only know her as an
enemy. You don t realize Heras is my superior in every way: more
subtle, more determined, more ruthless. My promotions were gained
by patronage, while hers were gained by worth. So she has told me,
more than once.
She s a stupid woman, whoever she is, Seth muttered beside her.
You don t have to convince me she s ruthless, Emil said quietly.
When Emil became quiet, he was forcing people to put effort into
listening, which meant he was angry. But that woman s subtlety
and determination were greatly reduced when a certain rogue
Paladin tempted her dimwitted twit of a seer into turning traitor.
When Medric abandoned her, so also did her greatness
Greatness by whose standards? said Clement. And is that a
prediction or an opinion?
You can keep trying to throw me off track all the way to Watfield if
you like, though it seems a pointless and exhausting way to spend a
morning.
What do you want me to say, Emil? That third choice you believe in?
I have no idea what it might be.
But I can think of an easy way for you to resolve this entire matter.
If you let me have a weapon I can kill myself, Clement said. That
would be easy.
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
Seth said, It would be easier to let that stupid person be general
instead of you.
Clement stumbled over her own feet.
Seth glanced at Emil, as though she feared she had spoken out of
turn. But Emil said, And that s what you want to do, isn t it
Clement? If Zanja were here, she d tell you the story of the demon in
the wild-wood, who terrified all passersby until one of them called it
by name.
The demon s name was Fear, Clement said. I heard her tell that
story in the garrison.
Well, then, Emil said. Whatever target he had been aiming at, he
seemed to think he had hit it.
Clement said, I ll leave for the west as soon as my people can be
ready. A few days.
Seth said, You can t. The weather has changed. Don t you feel it?
Clement raised her gaze to survey the landscape. There was snow
and more snow as far as could be seen. Her feet and hands were
numb, and even when walking in sunlight she felt disinclined to
unbutton her coat. But surely the sun s climb into the sky was
surprisingly steep. And where the patches of sunlight lingered long
enough, water drops began to fall from the snow-covered tree limbs.
Mud season, Karis said. In just a few days it will start to rain.
How long will the rain last? Emil asked.
Fifteen days, Karis said. More or less.
Thirteen, said Seth.
They conferred, but Clement, engaged in her own calculations, didn t
care about the exact number. She said, It s not so difficult, is it, to
find someone to predict the weather?
Not at all, said Emil. A person with a strong earth talent can
predict a good twenty days ahead with certainty, and beyond that
with less certainty.
Are there people like that in South Hill?
Three or four of them, at least. Do you think Heras has become able
to make weather her ally? Perhaps a prisoner, or a younger soldier
has the gift of weather-wisdom? Still, if she did plan to use spring [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
extinguishing all sound, for a little while Clement understood why
Emil, a man of extraordinary rationality, could subscribe to such a
mystical philosophy.
We think the past is over, said the raven, speaking Medric s words.
To us that s fact. But by water logic, the past is present.
You know as little of water logic as I do, Karis snapped. You re
reciting from a book.
Reading, actually the book is right here on my lap, said the seer.
And it s a good thing I know how to read.
Emil said, Medric, please don t test Karis s temper tonight. Has
Zanja been taken by water magic? Say yes, or say no.
Yes, said the Medric-Raven.
A water witch is meddling with my business, and you didn t see fit
to tell me? Karis said in outrage.
No.
Medric seemed to have given his entire answer. By the dim lantern
light Clement saw Emil lay a hand on Karis s forearm. I assume
you re unwilling to explain why, or you would have done so already.
But will you tell us where, or what?
She lies not too far from here, in a cottage on the south shore, near a
horseshoe bend of the river, where there s an old man who s blind
and knits. She s been mostly drowned and nearly frozen, but to her
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
that s not much worse than a hiccup.
There s no such place, Karis said. And she certainly isn t there.
The Medric-Raven said, No, not now. But two hundred years ago
there was. And she is.
Their dreary wait for daylight became an impatient one. Karis
wanted to travel north to find a water witch she had met once in a
border tribe, and she and Emil argued about the wisdom and
practicality of this venture. With Zanja gone, he pointed out, no one
in Shaftal could even speak the Otter Elder s language, even if the
old man was still alive. And he reminded her, several times, that an
air witch was trying to assassinate her. Zanja will find her own way
back to you, he said. After six years with her, how is it possible you
don t trust her to do so?
At dawn, Herme rousted his company and set them to work at
clearing snow. The farmers served pot after pot of porridge, as
quickly as they could cook it. By the time the sixty of them began the
march to Watfield, columns of sunlight supported a cracking ceiling
of clouds. They walked from sunlight to shadow to sunlight, and
weary people grumbled in two languages that they didn t know
whether to sweat or shiver.
Clement found Seth with the dogs at the rear of the column, plodding
wearily in the trampled snow. They walked together for half the
morning without saying a word to each other. Once only, Seth
glanced sideways at Clement, and her expression was so full of
contradictions that Clement could make nothing of it.
Emil walked ahead with Saleen, and Karis spent most of the journey
in the very front, doing the hard work of trampling a path in the
fresh snow. Eventually both of them fell back. The dogs pushed up to
be near Karis and she rested her big hands on their heads. The dogs
grinned up at her, seeming very pleased by her approval.
I like that captain of yours, Emil said to Clement. His name is
Herme? Can he read and write? Does he speak Shaftalese?
No, no, and no. And you can t recruit him to the Paladins. He s going
west with me, to be a new garrison commander s lieutenant. It will
break his company s heart to lose him, though.
Seth looked at Clement sharply. You re going west? she said.
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
I must. I have a problem there that only I can resolve.
Emil said, The Paladin irregulars have always avoided direct
attacks on the garrisons because it would take too many people and
too much heavy artillery. What will it take for you to break into a
garrison by force?
You Paladins were wise with your resources, said Clement. It
would require a battalion, at least, and a great deal more time than I
have.
And I don t want armed battalions marching the countryside again.
I ll bring only thirty people a commander and five lieutenants for
each garrison. And no weapons.
But the mutineers won t open the gates and let you in, Emil said,
no more than our own rebels will open their own gates to Karis. To
do so would be an admission they were wrong, and it s both too late
and too early for that.
You think you know Heras, Emil, but you only know her as an
enemy. You don t realize Heras is my superior in every way: more
subtle, more determined, more ruthless. My promotions were gained
by patronage, while hers were gained by worth. So she has told me,
more than once.
She s a stupid woman, whoever she is, Seth muttered beside her.
You don t have to convince me she s ruthless, Emil said quietly.
When Emil became quiet, he was forcing people to put effort into
listening, which meant he was angry. But that woman s subtlety
and determination were greatly reduced when a certain rogue
Paladin tempted her dimwitted twit of a seer into turning traitor.
When Medric abandoned her, so also did her greatness
Greatness by whose standards? said Clement. And is that a
prediction or an opinion?
You can keep trying to throw me off track all the way to Watfield if
you like, though it seems a pointless and exhausting way to spend a
morning.
What do you want me to say, Emil? That third choice you believe in?
I have no idea what it might be.
But I can think of an easy way for you to resolve this entire matter.
If you let me have a weapon I can kill myself, Clement said. That
would be easy.
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Water Logic - Laurie J. Marks - Elemental Logic 03
Seth said, It would be easier to let that stupid person be general
instead of you.
Clement stumbled over her own feet.
Seth glanced at Emil, as though she feared she had spoken out of
turn. But Emil said, And that s what you want to do, isn t it
Clement? If Zanja were here, she d tell you the story of the demon in
the wild-wood, who terrified all passersby until one of them called it
by name.
The demon s name was Fear, Clement said. I heard her tell that
story in the garrison.
Well, then, Emil said. Whatever target he had been aiming at, he
seemed to think he had hit it.
Clement said, I ll leave for the west as soon as my people can be
ready. A few days.
Seth said, You can t. The weather has changed. Don t you feel it?
Clement raised her gaze to survey the landscape. There was snow
and more snow as far as could be seen. Her feet and hands were
numb, and even when walking in sunlight she felt disinclined to
unbutton her coat. But surely the sun s climb into the sky was
surprisingly steep. And where the patches of sunlight lingered long
enough, water drops began to fall from the snow-covered tree limbs.
Mud season, Karis said. In just a few days it will start to rain.
How long will the rain last? Emil asked.
Fifteen days, Karis said. More or less.
Thirteen, said Seth.
They conferred, but Clement, engaged in her own calculations, didn t
care about the exact number. She said, It s not so difficult, is it, to
find someone to predict the weather?
Not at all, said Emil. A person with a strong earth talent can
predict a good twenty days ahead with certainty, and beyond that
with less certainty.
Are there people like that in South Hill?
Three or four of them, at least. Do you think Heras has become able
to make weather her ally? Perhaps a prisoner, or a younger soldier
has the gift of weather-wisdom? Still, if she did plan to use spring [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]