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

before. Nine days. The words beat like a mortal bell. Nine days Journey to a death. Oh, Rhom, she cried.
Oh, gods, Hishn, what are we going to do . . .

II

Aranur Bentar neDannon;

Raiders

A cry that knots your heartstrings Is not easily untied

The peaks of Ariye rose sharply into the sky. Clear and cold, the mountain air warmed only thinly, but
the three girls who raced across the meadow did not care. Lying low on the backs of their six-legged
dnu, they called to the two youths chasing them, their hair whipping across their shoulders while their
mounts covered the ground with the beat of drumming hooves.

Already tugging off her tunic, Shilia hauled her dnu to a halt and leapt down. "Last one in the water is a
wet worlag!" she shouted at the boys who were pounding down the waterbank after the girls.

Her cousins laughed as they ran toward the lake, leaving their dnu to graze freely in the shore grass.
They were younger than Shilia by only a few years. Slower and more timid away from the village, the
other two had barely reached the water by the time the older girl was diving toward the center of the
small lake, but then again, Shilia admitted, they were the daughters of the Lloroi of the Ramaj Ariye.
They were not allowed out to swim or play the way she was, while she had to run and ride with the men
to keep up with Aranur. Aranur, she thought with

10

WOLFWALKER

11

a smile, arching into the water again like a dolphin. He was her only family. And all I want, she

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reminded herself.

When she finally surfaced, cool water spilling down her face and her loose hair dragging her back with
its streaming weight, she watched the boys race her cousins to the water's edge.

"Is it cold?" Namina called, stopping suddenly at the edge and sticking her toes into the lake while the
water lapped them like a pup.

"It's perfect," Shilia returned, ducking her mouth under and spitting like a fountain while she treaded
water. "As if it was already summer." Her voice carried clearly over the new ripples, and, delighted with
the patterns, she stuck her toes up and splashed them again. Namina laughed and waded out, followed by
the others like a family of lake otters, unaware of the mounted figures that watched from the forest
shadows.