"Tara K. Harper - Wolfwalker 5 - Silver Moons, Black Steel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harper Tara K)

hard thorns reached out for her sleeves when she cut the S-channel too
short, but she laughed and snarled in return. On the other side of the barrier
hedge, the trees swallowed her like a gnat.
Ahead, a young male paused on the edge of the pack, and his voice spiked
the clouded sky. Rising, falling, falling. Dion grinned at the trail between
them. She dodged an overhanging branch and felt twigs snap off in her
braid. She didnтАЩt care. The cold air was huge in her lungs, and the ground
like a lover, demanding her pace, her pulse, her sweat. She jumped a short
boulder, then balanced for an instant on a larger one beside it.
Wolfwalker!
Her throat answered the wolves, her human tone rising, falling, falling. Four
of the Gray Ones answered.
Her legs stretched and she jumped, staggered slightly, and leapt after the
pack. Ahead, the lead wolf caught the scent of a mountain cat, and as far
behind as she was, DionтАЩs hand went to the hilt of her knife with the
leaderтАЩs mental stiffening. But the tawny cat merely watched the pack flow
past its perch, its nostrils filled with their musk. As she passed, Dion looked
up and met the mountain catтАЩs gaze. Oaths, the voices whispered. The
wolfwalker snarled and ran faster.


On the corral fence, the boy and three men watched her disappear into the
forest. The youngest man sent the boy to retrieve DionтАЩs cloak. тАЬI wonder if
sheтАЩll come back,тАЭ he murmured.
The oldest man picked a splinter from the fence to chew on. тАЬMight not,
IтАЩm thinking,тАЭ Muraus said. тАЬSheтАЩs close to the wild, not us.тАЭ
They were comfortably silent for a moment.
тАЬThere was that wolfwalker down about a hundred years ago,тАЭ Muraus
commented.
Pratton picked his own splinter to poke at his aged teeth and frowned
around it at white-haired Muraus. тАЬOld Marl? Hundred and seven years ago,
if I recall rightly.тАЭ
тАЬHundred seven,тАЭ the other man agreed amiably. тАЬRan trail with his wolf
for forty-two years. Wolf got old, but wouldnтАЩt come in to the village, and

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Silver Moons, Black SteelтАФHarper, Tara K - Wolf 05


old Marl had to live in the forest. Took off one day and didnтАЩt come back.
Left his cloak and sword, even his boots on the trail.тАЭ
Pratton tugged absently on his trimmed, gray beard and nodded
consideringly. тАЬSome say worlags got тАЩem.тАЭ
Muraus chewed his toothpick. тАЬSome say it was poolah. JemeniтАЩs
grandfather saw footprints near a kill тАЩbout two months after Marl
disappeared.тАЭ
Pratton grunted his agreement. тАЬThey say he still haunts the trails over
Backaround Ridge. You can hear him in the howling.тАЭ
The white-haired man nodded toward the forest. тАЬWeтАЩll hear her, too, more
than likely.тАЭ