[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.I'd a feeling he would havewaited and intervened only at the very last moment, to stop Gerard from killing me.I was still not happywith our accord, though it was certainly an improvement over the previous state of affairs.All of which made me wonder again what had become of Brand.Had Fiona or Bleys finally gotten tohim? Had he attempted his proposed assassinations singlehanded and been met with a counterthrust, thendragged through his intended victim's Trump? Had his old allies from the Courts of Chaos somehowgotten through to him? Had one of his horny-handed guardians from the tower finally been able to reachhim? Or had it been as I had suggested to Gerard--an accidental self-injury in a fit of rage, followed byan ill tempered flight from Amber to do his brooding and plotting elsewhere?When that many questions arise from a single event the answer is seldom obtainable by pure logic.I hadto sort out the possibilities though, to have something to reach for when more facts did turn up.In the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlmeantime, I thought carefully over everything he had told me, regarding his allegations in light of thosethings which I now knew.With one exception, I did not doubt most of the facts.He had built too cleverlyto have the edifice simply toppled-but then, he had had a lot of time to think these things over.No, it wasin his manner of presenting events that something had been hidden by misdirection.His recent proposalpractically assured me of that.The old trail twisted, widened, narrowed again, swung to the northwest and downward, into thethickening wood.The forest had changed very little.It seemed almost the same trail a young man hadridden centuries before, riding for the sheer pleasure of it, riding to explore that vast green realm whichextended over most of the continent, if he did not stray into Shadow.It would be good to be doing itagain for no reason other than this.After perhaps an hour, I had worked my way well back into the forest, where the trees were great darktowers, what sunlight I glimpsed caught like phoenix nests in their highest branches, an always moist,twilight softness smoothing the outlines of stumps and boles, logs and mossy rocks.A deer boundedacross my path, not trusting to the excellent concealment of a thicket at the right of the trail.Bird notessounded about me, never too near.Occasionally, I crossed the tracks of other horsemen.Some of thesewere quite fresh, but they did not stay long with the trail.Kolvir was well out of sight, had been for sometime.The trail rose again, and I knew that I would shortly reach the top of a small ridge, pass among rocks,and head downward once more.The trees thinned somewhat as we climbed, until finally I was afforded apartial view of the sky.It was enlarged as I continued, and when I came to the summit I heard the distantcry of a hunting bird.Glancing upward, I saw a great dark shape, circling and circling, high above me.I hurried past theboulders and shook the reins for a burst of speed as soon as the way was clear.We plunged downward,racing to get under cover of the larger trees once again.The bird cried out as we did this, but we won to the shade, to the dimness, without incident.I slowedgradually after that and continued to listen, but there were no untoward sounds on the air.This part of theforest was pretty much the same as that we had left beyond the ridge, save for a small stream we pickedup and paralleled for a time, finally crossing it at a shallow ford.Beyond, the trail widened and a littlemore light leaked through and flowed with us for half a league.We had almost come a sufficient distancefor me to begin those small manipulations of Shadow which would bear me to the pathway back to theshadow Earth of my former exile.Yet, it would be difficult to begin here, easier farther along.I resolvedto save the strain on myself and my mount by continuing to a better beginning.Nothing of a threateningnature had really occurred.The bird could be a wild hunter, probably was.Only one thought nagged at me as I rode.Julian.Arden was Julian's preserve, patrolled by his rangers, sheltering several encampments of his troops at alltimes-Amber's inland border guard, both against incursions natural and against those things which mightappear at the boundaries of Shadow.Where did Julian go when he had departed the palace so suddenly on the night of Brand's stabbing? Ifhe wished simply to hide, there was no necessity for him to flee farther than this.Here he was strong,backed by his own men, moving in a realm he knew far better than the rest of us.It was quite possiblethat he was not, right now, too far away.Also, he liked to hunt.He had his hellhounds, he had his birds. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html.A half mile, a mile.Just then, I heard the sound that I feared most.Piercing the green and the shade, there came the notes ofa hunting horn.They came from some distance behind me, and I think from the left of the trail.I urged my mount to a gallop and the trees rushed to a blur on either side.The trail was straight and levelhere.We took advantage of this.Then from behind, I heard a roar-a kind of deepchested coughing, growling sound backed by a lot ofresonant lung space.I did not know what it was that had littered it, but it was no dog.Not even ahellhound sounded like that.I glanced back, but there was no pursuit in sight.So I kept low and talked toDrum a bit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl przylepto3.keep.pl
.I'd a feeling he would havewaited and intervened only at the very last moment, to stop Gerard from killing me.I was still not happywith our accord, though it was certainly an improvement over the previous state of affairs.All of which made me wonder again what had become of Brand.Had Fiona or Bleys finally gotten tohim? Had he attempted his proposed assassinations singlehanded and been met with a counterthrust, thendragged through his intended victim's Trump? Had his old allies from the Courts of Chaos somehowgotten through to him? Had one of his horny-handed guardians from the tower finally been able to reachhim? Or had it been as I had suggested to Gerard--an accidental self-injury in a fit of rage, followed byan ill tempered flight from Amber to do his brooding and plotting elsewhere?When that many questions arise from a single event the answer is seldom obtainable by pure logic.I hadto sort out the possibilities though, to have something to reach for when more facts did turn up.In the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlmeantime, I thought carefully over everything he had told me, regarding his allegations in light of thosethings which I now knew.With one exception, I did not doubt most of the facts.He had built too cleverlyto have the edifice simply toppled-but then, he had had a lot of time to think these things over.No, it wasin his manner of presenting events that something had been hidden by misdirection.His recent proposalpractically assured me of that.The old trail twisted, widened, narrowed again, swung to the northwest and downward, into thethickening wood.The forest had changed very little.It seemed almost the same trail a young man hadridden centuries before, riding for the sheer pleasure of it, riding to explore that vast green realm whichextended over most of the continent, if he did not stray into Shadow.It would be good to be doing itagain for no reason other than this.After perhaps an hour, I had worked my way well back into the forest, where the trees were great darktowers, what sunlight I glimpsed caught like phoenix nests in their highest branches, an always moist,twilight softness smoothing the outlines of stumps and boles, logs and mossy rocks.A deer boundedacross my path, not trusting to the excellent concealment of a thicket at the right of the trail.Bird notessounded about me, never too near.Occasionally, I crossed the tracks of other horsemen.Some of thesewere quite fresh, but they did not stay long with the trail.Kolvir was well out of sight, had been for sometime.The trail rose again, and I knew that I would shortly reach the top of a small ridge, pass among rocks,and head downward once more.The trees thinned somewhat as we climbed, until finally I was afforded apartial view of the sky.It was enlarged as I continued, and when I came to the summit I heard the distantcry of a hunting bird.Glancing upward, I saw a great dark shape, circling and circling, high above me.I hurried past theboulders and shook the reins for a burst of speed as soon as the way was clear.We plunged downward,racing to get under cover of the larger trees once again.The bird cried out as we did this, but we won to the shade, to the dimness, without incident.I slowedgradually after that and continued to listen, but there were no untoward sounds on the air.This part of theforest was pretty much the same as that we had left beyond the ridge, save for a small stream we pickedup and paralleled for a time, finally crossing it at a shallow ford.Beyond, the trail widened and a littlemore light leaked through and flowed with us for half a league.We had almost come a sufficient distancefor me to begin those small manipulations of Shadow which would bear me to the pathway back to theshadow Earth of my former exile.Yet, it would be difficult to begin here, easier farther along.I resolvedto save the strain on myself and my mount by continuing to a better beginning.Nothing of a threateningnature had really occurred.The bird could be a wild hunter, probably was.Only one thought nagged at me as I rode.Julian.Arden was Julian's preserve, patrolled by his rangers, sheltering several encampments of his troops at alltimes-Amber's inland border guard, both against incursions natural and against those things which mightappear at the boundaries of Shadow.Where did Julian go when he had departed the palace so suddenly on the night of Brand's stabbing? Ifhe wished simply to hide, there was no necessity for him to flee farther than this.Here he was strong,backed by his own men, moving in a realm he knew far better than the rest of us.It was quite possiblethat he was not, right now, too far away.Also, he liked to hunt.He had his hellhounds, he had his birds. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html.A half mile, a mile.Just then, I heard the sound that I feared most.Piercing the green and the shade, there came the notes ofa hunting horn.They came from some distance behind me, and I think from the left of the trail.I urged my mount to a gallop and the trees rushed to a blur on either side.The trail was straight and levelhere.We took advantage of this.Then from behind, I heard a roar-a kind of deepchested coughing, growling sound backed by a lot ofresonant lung space.I did not know what it was that had littered it, but it was no dog.Not even ahellhound sounded like that.I glanced back, but there was no pursuit in sight.So I kept low and talked toDrum a bit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]