"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

They found the murdered men and their horses where theyтАЩd left them, and it ached MaddynтАЩs heart to
think how close theyтАЩd been to safety when their Wyrd fell upon them. While the servants looked for a
place where the thawing ground was good and soft, Nevyn coursed back and forth like a hunting dog
and examined everythingтАФthe dead men, the horses, the soggy ground around them.

тАЬYou and the men certainly trampled all over everything, Maddo,тАЭ he grumbled.

тАЬWell, we looked for footprints and tracks and suchlike. If theyтАЩd left a trail we would have found it, but
youтАЩve got to remember that the ground was frozen hard when this happened.тАЭ

тАЬTrue enough. WhereтАЩs the third lad, the one who almost got away?тАЭ

Maddyn took him across the field to the sprawled and puffing corpse. In the warming day the smell was
loathsome enough to make the bard keep his distance, but Nevyn knelt right down next to the thing and
began to examine the ground as carefully as if he were looking for a precious jewel. Finally he stood up
and walked away with one last disgusted shake of his head.

тАЬFind anything?тАЭ

тАЬNaught. IтАЩm not even sure what I was hoping to get, to tell you the truth. It just seems that . . . тАЭ Nevyn
let his words trail away and stood there slack-mouthed for a moment. тАЬI want to wash my hands off, and
I see a stream over there.тАЭ

Maddyn went with him while he knelt down and, swearing at the coldness of the water, scrubbed his
hands in the rivulet. All at once the old man went tense, his eyes unfocused, his mouth slack again, his
head tilted a little as if he listened to a distant voice. Only then did Maddyn notice that the streamlet
brimmed with glassy-blue undines, rising up in crests and wavelets. In their midst, and yet somehow
beyond them, like a man coming through a doorway from some other place, was a presence. Maddyn
could barely see it, a vast silvery shimmer that seemed to partake of both water and air like some
preternatural fog, forming itself into a shape that might not even have existed beyond his desire to see it as
a shape. Then it was gone, and Maddyn shuddered once with a toss of his head.

тАЬGeese walking on your grave?тАЭ Nevyn said mildly.

When Maddyn looked around he saw Owaen and the prince walking over to them and well within
earshot.
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тАЬMust be, truly. Here, Owaen, did you and the lads find anything new?тАЭ

тАЬDoubt me if thereтАЩs aught to find. Young Branoic did come up with this, though. Insisted it might be
important, but he couldnтАЩt say why.тАЭ Owaen looked positively sour as he handed Nevyn a thin sliver of
bone, about six inches long, barely a half inch wide, but pointed on both ends. тАЬSometimes I think that
lad is daft, I truly do.тАЭ

тАЬNot at all.тАЭ Nevyn was turning the sliver round and round in his thin, gnarled fingers. тАЬItтАЩs human bone,