"Gray, Julia - Guardian 03 - The Crystal Desert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

Kala nodded, then glanced at Terrel.
'You think I should look after him too?' Mlicki guessed.
'I'll do my best, but I think it's probably going to be the other way round. He can do all sorts of things I can't.'
Don't be so sure, Terrel thought. He had the distinct feeling that one of the reasons he had joined this group of nomads was because he had been meant to meet Mlicki. We may have more in common than you realize, he added silently.
Terrel looked up to find Kalkara grinning at him. He found the unwavering gaze of those luminous eyes a little unnerving. Even though he'd been careful to keep his recent thoughts private, he couldn't help wondering if she, like her brother, was adept at psinoma.
'I knew you were special,' Mlicki told him. 'It's not many people who win Kala's seal of approval.'
'I'm honoured,' Terrel replied - and he meant it.
Another piece of the seemingly endless puzzle of his life had just fallen into place, and the feeling that he was - at last - in the right place had matured into near certainty. All he had to do now was work out what he was supposed to do there.
'I wonder what our next adventure will be,' Mlicki said, echoing both Terrel's thoughts and something another friend had once said to him.
'I suspect we'll find out soon enough,' he replied.
Chapter Five
Looking back, Terrel could not identify any single decisive moment that had led him to the desert. His progress seemed to have been driven by chance, a series of endeavours brought about by circumstance rather than any recognizable sense of purpose. He had taken advantage of the various opportunities that had presented themselves, hoping that this was what he was meant to do, that each day's travelling would take him closer to his elusive goal. On several occasions he had been offered a way of turning back, of heading towards the Movaghassi Ocean again, but he had not done so, even though the temptation was enormous. He had convinced himself that his only chance of eventually returning to Alyssa was to complete the tasks that fate - and his bargain - had burdened him with. Even if he were at her side now, it would have done them no good. Her long sleep had already lasted for more than three and a half years, and while he was reasonably certain that she had come to no harm, he knew that her fate - including the chance of her ever waking again - was inextricably linked to his own destiny.
After the extraordinary events that had taken place in Talazoria, Terrel had begun to believe that certain aspects of his life really were preordained. But as the long months since then had dragged on into years, his doubts had returned again. After so much time spent on the road -so much apparently aimless travelling - the very idea of prophesying the future seemed far-fetched, almost laughable. He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, or where he should be going.
To make matters worse, there had been spells when he hadn't seen Alyssa - or the ghosts - for months at a time, and it had been hard then not to imagine that he was lost or had been abandoned once more. Only the joy and relief he felt whenever she appeared again convinced him that their pact still held. And on each occasion she had been able to persuade him that he was indeed doing the right thing in going on, and that he shouldn't even think about trying to get back to Vadanis yet. But with each of her absences - and the present one was the longest he had ever known - his doubts and fears returned in full measure, and it took all his courage to overcome them.
The one idea he clung to, whenever everything else seemed uncertain, was that there was surely another elemental somewhere on Nydus. There had to be; otherwise what was the point of his bargain? But because he didn't know where it was, and in the absence of any solid advice, he could only hope that he would be drawn to it by signs and omens, just as he had been directed to Talazoria. Tracking down such a creature was never going to be easy. After all, it was not something he could simply ask about. Most people would have regarded him as insane if he'd even tried, so he was forced to rely on gossip and rumour, and any tales of unusual activity. Such sources were inherently unreliable - and Terrel had no doubt that he'd have been led astray if he'd listened to all the peculiar stories he'd heard - so he had come to rely on his own intuition when deciding what was important and what was not. He was also acutely aware that he shouldn't necessarily trust everyone he encountered - the sharaken's duplicity had seen to that - and this made sifting fact from fiction even more onerous. However, because he usually had nothing to go on - nothing that could be considered even remotely relevant to his quest - he was left to his own devices in deciding what he should do next. It often seemed that his only guiding principle was to head away from where his heart most wanted him to go.
At least now he had become reasonably adept at making his way through foreign lands. His travails had made him physically strong, although his deformities ensured that he would never be truly dextrous or athletic. He was taller than when he'd been cast adrift from Vadanis, but he was still thin, and his apparent frailty was emphasized by his twisted leg and withered right arm. In fact Terrel now possessed a dogged stamina that belied his skewed frame, but his growth recently had been in mind rather than body. He had been forced to mature, and had learnt to be self-reliant. Coping with most of the practical difficulties that faced a traveller now came as almost second nature, and for all the rest he was able to fall back on his one marketable skill. A true healer could always be reasonably sure of a good reception, even among strangers. Once he was able to demonstrate that his abilities were real, and not the mere boastings of a charlatan, he was usually made welcome. In return for his ministrations he accepted whatever gifts his hosts could offer. In this way he'd been able to keep himself fed and clothed. He had even been able to barter for several new pairs of boots along the way - all of which had to be specially made or altered to fit his upturned right foot.
This same healing talent was generally enough to overcome any aversion caused by his strange appearance - especially by his disconcerting eyes. Terrel was glad of this, because his only alternative was to disguise them by using the glamour - another technique bequeathed to him by Babak - and he disliked doing this because it made him vulnerable to Jax's malevolent influence. Fortunately, most people accepted him as he was, and this acceptance was greatly aided by his ability to learn languages quickly. The fact that someone who was obviously a foreigner was able to converse with them in their own tongue often caused both surprise and pleasure in those he met - and even though the methods he used to become fluent would have alarmed most of them, Terrel believed that what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. He swallowed his guilt, reminding himself that the alternative was endless confusion and possible hostility.
Everywhere he went he was the object of considerable curiosity, and he was forced to tell different versions of his story - with varying degrees of truth - about his reasons for travelling. He told as few outright lies as possible, preferring to remain silent when he had no other choice. The fact that he was actually an imperial prince, albeit disowned, didn't seem relevant, or even believable - even to himself. As it was, his censored tales often provoked amazement and interest, but that was mostly because he was so very far from home.
Everywhere Terrel went he came across many things that surprised and intrigued him. Each country, each society, had its own customs, beliefs and taboos, many of which he found incomprehensible. The only constant was a certain reverence for the moons, the stately pageant of the sky - and even there the interpretations of what various lunar configurations actually meant varied wildly. This was especially true with the many different theories he had heard about the apparently impossible changes to the movements of the Dark Moon.
There were still times when the fact that he'd been born and raised in the Floating Islands coloured Terrel's thinking. He had long since grown used to the fact that land did not have to move to be a viable place for people to live. Indeed, it had become clear to him that the islands were the exception rather than the rule, and that many of the places he'd visited were no less civilized than Vadanis itself. More and more of his preconceptions and prejudices were gradually being overturned. He had learnt that most bigotry stemmed from ignorance, and as a result he tried hard not to condemn anything until he'd at least learnt something about it. He had seen a great deal that he could never have imagined during his earlier life at the haven - where the only travelling he had done had been in his imagination, inspired by the old books he'd read in the abandoned library. Even so, nothing could have prepared him for the land of Misrah - and he'd never met anyone like the Toma before.
The vast land was like none he had seen or even dreamt of. It held unsuspected horrors that he was still not even close to understanding. But there was wonder there too. And beauty.
The Toma's beliefs were as bizarre as anything Terrel had ever encountered, and their way of life was equally strange. And yet he already felt comfortable among them. Even the way he had joined their caravan had come about because of a peculiar coincidence, which had led Terrel to wonder if he had somehow been meant to join them. He had hoped that this was the case, and hoped so still. He'd begun to despair of ever being able to fulfil his bargain, but since he'd been travelling with the nomads he had regained at least a glimmer of hope. Recent developments had made that glimmer glow even brighter, but there was only one sign that would convince him he was on the right track at last.
That sign was to come the very next day.
At first Terrel could not tell what Kalkara was pointing at. She had come to find him while the Toma were busy breaking camp. This was a practised operation, and Terrel had soon learned that he should keep out of the way and let the nomads get on with it. On this occasion he had simply been watching as the tents and all the other belongings were wrapped into bales to be loaded on to the camels, when Kala, who was similarly unemployed, had come up to him and taken his hand. She had led him over a low line of dunes, then motioned for him to be quiet as they looked over the dry gully beyond.
'What is it?' Terrel whispered, as he tried to follow the line of her pointing finger. 'I don't see anything.' He couldn't imagine why she wanted to show him what appeared to be just another stretch of barren sand and soil.
Kalkara made no attempt to answer his question, merely waving him into silence again. Then she took hold of his sleeve and pulled him down to sit beside her. She obviously intended him to wait for something, but Terrel had no idea what it might be.
After a little while a light wind began to blow, and Terrel shivered. The nights were still bitterly cold at this time of year, and the sun had yet to warm the day properly. Kala was oblivious to his discomfort, and seemed as though she would be content to sit there all day, her gaze still fixed on the far side of the gully. Faint noises from the activity in the camp drifted to them on the breeze, but otherwise the silence of the place was complete. It was an aspect of the desert that Terrel found both enticing and occasionally oppressive. Such silence could be utterly peaceful, but it was also a reminder that the place was devoid of life.
He was about to get up, to stretch his chilled limbs if nothing else, when he felt Kalkara grow tense beside him. Only then did he see what she had been staring at. There was life here after all.
A tiny movement alerted him to the existence of several small holes in the far bank. He had taken the darker patches for shadows, but now realized that there was some kind of burrow only a few paces from where they were sitting. Kala's insistence on their being still and quiet made sense now, but Terrel couldn't imagine what kind of creature could possibly live there. There was no way rabbits could have survived in such terrain, and he didn't know of any other animals that dug communal warrens. According to the Toma, some of the more mountainous regions of Misrah supported foxes, bears, gazelles and even a much revered beast known as a snow-leopard, but the only wildlife Terrel had seen since he'd left the coastal plain had been a few birds, snakes and scorpions. Clearly, none of them were responsible for this excavation.
Kalkara's fingers tightened on his arm as movement showed again. This time he was waiting for it, and caught a glimpse of a small head with large ears. The creature's fur matched the colour of the sand almost exactly. After looking round for a few moments, the animal emerged into the daylight. It looked rather like a brown rat, except for the size of its ears and the fact that its hind legs were very long, out of proportion to the rest of its body. Terrel had no idea what the creature was, but it looked faintly comical, especially when it moved off in a series of rapid bounds. Its bouncing progress brought it closer to the two onlookers, though it did not seem to have noticed them.
Taking his lead from Kala, Terrel kept very still, but he couldn't resist glancing at his companion. Her face was shining with pleasure, a sight that made his heart swell. He wondered how she had known where to look, then forgot such speculation as a sudden rush of movement brought his attention back to the burrow. As if in answer to an invisible signal, more of the animals emerged. Soon the gully seemed to be filled with them, all leaping about in apparently random directions, as though they were celebrating their release from confinement by being as energetic as possible. Terrel was entranced, and had to fight hard to keep from laughing out loud. As it was, his smile now matched the expression on Kalkara's face. He wanted to thank her for enabling him to witness such a delightful spectacle, but knew that he would have to keep quiet or risk frightening the animals.
After a while the frenetic activity died down and the creatures settled into more leisurely pursuits, some of them basking in the increasing warmth of the sun, others grooming one another, while a few began digging with their forepaws in the sand. Terrel and Kala watched, their presence apparently having no effect upon the activity below. Eventually, however, Terrel began to worry about the length of time they'd been away from the camp, and he decided they should get back before someone had to come looking for them.
'Come on,' he whispered to Kala. 'We-'
He broke off as she gave him a quick frown, but it was too late. Ears had pricked up at the sound of his voice, and many of the creatures were now looking in their direction, their noses twitching. Terrel froze, but the wind caught at the loose material of his sleeve and the flapping cloth was obviously seen. One of the animals responded by thumping its back feet on the ground, and in a flurry of bouncing and scurrying, the entire group fled to the various holes and disappeared underground. Within a moment or two they had vanished - all except one.
This creature stayed out in the open, squatting on its hindquarters, staring directly at Terrel - and his heart lurched with sudden hope.
Alyssa? he queried tentatively.
Shut up! she replied. How can you ever listen to anything if you all keep talking at once?
Chapter Six
By the time Terrel realized that Alyssa had not been talking to him, he had been further confused by Kalkara's reaction to this latest development. Whether she had heard something of the exchange, or was just unnerved by the creature's unnatural behaviour, the little girl had leapt to her feet, her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes wide with fear. A moment later she flew off, her feet skimming over the dunes as she ran. But Terrel was too delighted by Alyssa's long-anticipated return to worry about this for too long.
I don't care, Alyssa declared. You can be whole without me.
As her voice sounded silently in his mind, Terrel wondered whether he ought to use psinoma. Although it seemed as though she were talking to someone else, he couldn't be sure. Alyssa often began conversations in the middle, blithely assuming that her companions had followed her earlier train of thought. In the past he'd been quite good at guessing what she meant, but occasionally her statements had simply been incomprehensible - as they were in this instance. However, all that paled into insignificance compared to the fact that she was here at last. Terrel was in no doubt that he would be able to talk to her soon.
I can run to darkness, Alyssa protested. I just don't want to. Leave me alone, or she'll never come back.
What's going on? Terrel ventured. Alyssa?
What? she responded. I know he's not part of the circle. But there's no need to be afraid. Stop it. Stop it! You're driving me crazy.
Under any other circumstances this statement coming from Alyssa would have made Terrel smile, but she was clearly distressed, and that was something he couldn't bear. Even so, he'd already guessed that his earlier interruption had only made matters worse, so he kept his thoughts to himself for the moment, restraining his need to talk.
Alyssa was clearly coming to terms with the body of her latest host, and the creature began to move along the gully in a series of lurching hops. As Terrel scrambled to follow, he heard her muttering about having to get away. Her flight became more rapid, each jump longer, as she gained in confidence, and it was only when she stopped on the far side of another dune that he was able to catch up with her. He was breathing heavily when he slumped down beside her, and was glad he did not have to use his voice to speak.
Is it all right now? he asked. Is this far enough?
Alyssa was sitting upright, her ears twitching as if she was straining to hear some faint sound, but she didn't answer him immediately. As he regained his composure, Terrel was able to study the animal, looking for her ring. He had made it from one of his own hairs and from pieces of thread, and although it had begun as a joke between the two friends, it was vitally important now. It was the link that bound them - and their worlds - together, enabling her to find him even when he was so very far away. He saw it eventually, half buried in the soft fur of one of her forelegs.
Who was she?
It took Terrel a few moments to realize that she was actually speaking to him this time.