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

With white-rough water in every glass-steep canyon and the lure of some of
the best climbing in all nine of the human counties, every Randonnen with
half a heart became a mountaineer. And one couldnтАЩt get to the climbing
peaks without learning to fend for oneself in the forest, which meant
swimming and kayaking, tracking and foraging, archery and knifework.
Although in DionтАЩs case, her father and her twin brother were as much to
blame for her scouting skills as was her home county. She had followed her
twin, Rhom, like a puppy, using his bow for hunting and his sword for
fighting, until her father had brought her a bow of her own and smithed her
her own steel blades. By the time she bonded with the wolf cub Gray Hishn,
Dion had already had the scouting experience of a two-decade wolfwalker.
Since then, she had run trail for the Ariyens for almost fifteen years, honing
her skills until she was a veritable ghost among the trees.
It was too long, Batayon thought. Too long for anyone to face danger
without relief. Raiders, worlags, badgerbearsтАж
Moons alone knew how many friends she had buried along the Ariyen
trails. Those graves had left their own kind of mark. He had seen it too

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Tara%20K.%20Harper%20-%2...ker%205%20-%20Silver%20Moons,%20Black%20Steel.html (13 of 439)22-12-2006 2:33:23
Silver Moons, Black SteelтАФHarper, Tara K - Wolf 05


often even here in Ramaj Kiaskari: the overwary stances, the hard eyes, the
near-blank expressions of those who had fought too long and were held
now only by threads of humanity. Dion was close to that. Her violet gaze no
longer held the calm concentration of the veteran scout, the quiet
compassion of the healer. She was too much the predator: the wolf, alone,
torn from old wounds, and blind to anything but threat and attack. The
ghosts that haunted those violet eyes were drowning the woman within.
It had been six days since she and her two companions had arrived on the
edge of the alpine fields with two wounded dnu, a broken sword, and a
saddle half slashed by a poolah. By the end of the ninan, she would likely
be gone, disappearing back into alpine forests and shadowed peaks. If he
could just keep her in town for two more ninans, the passes would begin to
clog with snow, and she would be forced to stand still in this county. Forced
to face herself, not run from the demons that clung to the edge of her cloak.
Eighteen days, he thought. It would be eternity to her.
He nodded toward the class as she hung her towel on a hook. тАЬShall we go
at it again tomorrow?тАЭ Dion frowned absently as she watched the students,
and he knew she was already seeing the trail. тАЬStay, Dione,тАЭ he said quietly.
тАЬWe have much to learn from each other.тАЭ
The wolfwalker cocked her head and considered the words. тАЬFor
tomorrow,тАЭ she agreed obliquely.
But he caught the self-blame that glinted in her eyes. тАЬIt was I who asked
you to share ring.тАЭ
Dion regarded him for a long moment. It was a telling statement, she
thought, to share ring. With a potential life span of three hundred yearsтАФ
although few reached that age on this worldтАФone could study a dozen
different martial styles and become well-versed in each. Sharing ring had
become a sharing of skills, an opening of oneтАЩs essential knowledge to the