"Doranna Durgin - Wolverine's Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Durgin Doranna)

"Kelyn, that'sтАФ"

Ridiculous, he might have said, or absurd. But he didn't, because he was just as curious as she, in a land
where learning every aspect of one's surroundings could mean the difference between life and death, and
learning a cave meant the potential discovery of gold or silver nuggetsтАФand an escape route if a hunt
went bad at its end. So what Gwawl said was, "Wait for me!" and KelynтАФpossessor of the
candleтАФsmiled. Time to explore, and never mind the wolverine.

Turtle, she reminded herself.Ugly turtle.
***

Kelyn's eyes flashed open at the soft scuff of calloused foot against rock; her hand closed around the
sturdy, familiar grip of her staff. With its padded grip and its securely wrapped and mildly weighted ends,
it was far from the walking staff her mother had carried from Rema. Reman ironwoodтАФnearly
impervious to blade, unaffected by magic. A good weapon to have to hand when she was being stalked
in the middle of the night.

The fire, some distance away, had died to a mere glow of coals at the corner of her vision, and showed
her nothing. She breathed slowly and quietlyтАФlisteningтАФand pinpointed another pair of soft footfalls; a
prickle of anticipation ran down her spine. More than one creature stalked her, then, and yet left her
hunting group unaware. She was on her own, at least for the first crucial heartbeats of the struggle that
loomed before her.

Another stepтАФfar too close! Whooping her ululating cry of challenge, Kelyn snatched the staff and
rolled away from the creature, only to run into the bony legs of another. Sweeping the staff along the
ground, she tumbled the second creature from its feet and bounced up to her knees, jabbing the weapon
into the dark shadow of the first creature, a glancing blow. The creature yelped, a noise that sounded far
too familiar.

"Iden!" she cried, anger quickly finding its way to her voice. "What in Ketura's name are youтАФ"

Iden, still doubled over, waved a frantic arm before him, though she'd abandoned attack posture as soon
as she'd recognized him. Then two hands clamped down on her shoulders and she knew he'd been trying
to wave off whoever was with him. Her anger doubled, and she shifted her grip and drove the staff back
into the ribs of the boy behind her, freeing herself. His initial grunt of pain quickly turned to a cry of fear,
and the sound of feet and fingers scrabbling over rock.
"Mungo!" Iden screamed. Kelyn whirled to see Mungo sliding over the rounded edge of the granite
outcrop she'd chosen for her bed.Ketura's balls! She lunged for him, fingers barely closing around his
wrist before he slipped away from the stone.

"Got him!" she shouted, then added her own short shriek as his weight dragged her forward. Iden's
weight came down on her legs, stopping them all.

"Kelyn," Mungo said, a mere whisper. He hung free and clear, dangling above a drop that would kill him
several times over before he reached bottom; Kelyn herself was halfway to following him, her black hair
streaming down below her head to mingle with his own. In the light of the stars, his pale face shone up at
her, and the look in his eyes was easy to read.Oh, Ketura, my life depends on Kelyn the clumsy!
"D-don'tтАФ" he stuttered, as another pair of hands joined Iden's on her legs and yet another on her
ankles; they both jerked backwards, Kelyn's skin grinding against rock. "Don't d-dropтАФ"