"Tara K. Harper - Wolfwalker 2 - Shadow Leader" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harper Tara K)

Gray One and snapped, "And wipe that grin off your face, you
gray-skinned mutt."
Dion touched his arm. "You didn't have to hurry so,
Aranur. We did scout the area before we came down to the
lake."
"Paths can change in a matter of minutes when there's masa
around, Dion." He ducked into the game trail the wolf had
indicated and catalogued at a glance the tracks that lay on the
path. Even though he was keeping his voice low, it still seemed
loud.
"What do you mean, 'paths can change'?"
"Masa walks. Haven't you ever heard that?"
"Yes, but it's not that thick here," she returned, brushing
her hair back from her face.
Aranur glanced over his shoulder at Dion. Her straight black
hair heightened the color in her cheeks, and her violet eyes, so
like those of the moon warriors of legends, were quick and
clear. She was slender, but tall enough to come up to his
shoulder. Tall enough, he reminded himself, to stand up to him
when she took issue with his words. He snorted, making his
way around a deadfall that blocked the trail, but as Dion slipped
silently after him, he nodded to himself in approval. In spite of
her slimness, she was strong and quick with her swordтАФ
something that had surprised him until he learned to count on
itтАФand fought as well as any of the men who rode on his
venges back in Ramaj Ariye. An odd woman, he thought. One
who knew the woods as well as another woman would know
politics. Where most women were content to run the businesses
and act as elders to the councils, Dion preferred the forest and
the stark heights of the mountains. She would have been a
master healer in any city, but she chose instead to take her
healing skills to the tiny villages that perched on wispy cliffs
and the scattered towns that squatted in the remote valleys of
Randonnen. Not all wolfwalkers were healers, he knew, though
most of them had skills in that science. But this need to run the
ridges with the wolvesтАФhe wondered if all wolfwalkers were
like that.
The thought of the woods brought his mind back to the
masa, and, edging around a bush, he listened carefully for
sounds of creeping runners as the vines threaded their way
through the brush. The masa was closer now, but the trail
ahead seemed to be clear. He motioned for Dion to hurry.
"Masa does not grow in your county," he said in a low
voice, pausing to clear a branch from his own dark hair. "It's
the altitude. But we're only a hundred meters off sea level
here, and the masa grows thickly. Larger than I've seen it
before."
Dion looked down the path. "We had to go around two
major growth circles before Hishn found a clear path to the
herbs I wanted."