"Tara K. Harper - Wolfwalker 1 - Wolfwalker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harper Tara K)

Her movements awakened the wolf, whose ears had already begun to flick at her thoughts. Gray Hishn
rose, and the woman felt the creature's hunger and thirst double her own. She fingered the few weapons
left in her pouch, a bleak look on her face as she realized again her position. But die woiiags must have
been gone or Hishn would have long been alert. Go eat, she told the wolf, pushing a clump of long,
black hair out of her eyes. /'// be all right till you find dinner.

Dinner for both of us, the Gray One promised, flashing her

4 Tara K. Harper

the double image of two wolves with furry rabbits hanging from their teeth. The haggard young woman
managed a smile at the compliment, and the wolf melted into the woods, the gray hunter's impressions
of the forest filling her head with soothing images: cool dirt under silent footpads, soft leaves brushing
against fur. Muscles tensing and shifting as trees and downfalls shaded siitted yellow eyes from the
evening sun; the tangy scent of a deer herd on shadowed grass . . .

The wolfwalker's head cleared further, and she remembered again the night, the death. Her throat went
tight. Rhom! she thought with despair, raising her fist to her forehead and pressing as if she could drive
away the memories or hold back the tears with the pressure of her hand.

But the snap of a brittle twig brought her abruptly back, and she froze, her breath pressed against her
chest from the inside. She held' it without moving while the leaves rustledтАФit was a mottled badgerbear,
slinking by not ten meters away, its brainless head swinging from side to side as it searched for a place
to set its trap. With its gaping maw hidden under its flattened stomach, it tasted the ground for the trail
of a careless hare or young deer. Or a wounded human. The blood on the trail-surely it would be dried
and tasteless already. Or would the badgerbear sense her fear from where it paused there on the game
path, its sightless eyes swinging her way . . .

Abruptly she pulled herself together. Ember Dione, she taunted herself harshly, trying to control her
shattered nerves. So eager to Journey with your brother. Well, you're here now and alone because of it.
Get your act together and face the world you wanted or crawl back to the village where they said you
belonged.

The JourneyтАФthe test of a young man's courage and skill. Rhom's sanction to see the world outside his
home. Whether he came from a village or a city or a floating town like those of the southern sea people
didn't matter. Only that he explore and return to tell his story to his father at the council fires, from then
on to be counted as a strong voice in the circle of judgment. But Dion had not had to go with him.
Women had their own Journey of sorts: the Internship, which let them test their own skills and prove
their worth to the city of their choice. Dion had already taken her own InternshipтАФbut the elders had
chosen her to go with her twin on his Journey, as well. And now, only Dion

WOLFWALKER 5

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would return to tell their story to their father. Dion, the wolf-walker, she thought bitterly. Dion, the
healer. Who could not even save her own brother.