[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Gretel gestured at the listener, who cocked one large and fragile ear, wrapping it close to the centers of the flowers.After a while, its eyes began to open in sheer amazement."Well?" asked David.Ssss! went Gretel.The listener listened.And listened.And listened.With each revelation, it seemed to grow ever more bewildered and shocked."What's it telling him?" David pressed.The flowers faded and the listener pulled away.It took off its spectacles and gave them a polish.Then with a jitter, it related what it had heard.It came in broken phrases, some more revealing than others."Fire star?" muttered David."Gawain?" hurred Gretel.She dropped back onto her haunches, looking slightly frightened.David bolted downstairs again.He found Liz in the hall, waving Henry good-bye."What was all that with the listener?" she asked.155"Go and sit in the living room.We need another cup of tea."She caught his arm."I'd like to know now.""Gretel has 'interrogated' Henry's pot plants.Gwilanna is going to try to raise Gawain.I think she's taken Lucy to the Tooth of Ragnar."156RETURN TO CHAMBERLAINGoing somewhere?"As he turned to see Zanna, leaning back against the outer wall of the base, idly brushing snow off her flawless mukluks, what startled Tootega the most was the stealth she had used to creep up on him.Here she was, a mere girl, a kabluna, inexperienced in the ways of the hunter.And yet she had stalked him as easily as a bear might ambush a fat and witless seal.It was twenty-five yards to the nearest door and the snow was solid enough to crunch when it broke.How had she closed the gap and made no sound? And even if his ears were bemired with blubber, why had the team of dogs not stirred?"Nice woofers," she said, and pushed away from the wall.146157Tootega did not understand these words, but his instincts warned him he was being scorned.He hissed at her through broken yellow teeth as she moved among the thirteen panting huskies.Showing no fear, she crouched by the handsome lead dog, Orak, looking deep into his eyes as she gripped the thick fur around his neck and roughed his head back and forth like a doll.Orak growled, but did not snap or bite."Good boy," she said, and held out her glove.Frightened to see the animal sniffing it, Tootega stepped forward, halfheartedly flicking a sealskin whip."You go.Leave here.""We.talk," said Zanna, using such a mordant edge to her voice that the leather-faced Inuk shuddered and fell back, almost toppling onto his sled.Zanna stood up, testing the tautness of the ropes that bound furs and tarpaulins over a bundle of hidden possessions."Heavy load.Doesn't look like a quick scoot round the bay.Moving igloo, are we?"Tootega swore at her and spat between her feet."Nice," she said, toeing the stain into the snow.158"First you try talismans to scare me away, now your foul smelling, whiskey soaked phlegm." She pulled off a glove and pushed back her sleeve."What does this mean, Inuk?""He can tell you on the way up to Chamberlain," said a voice.And there was Bergstrom, walking steadily toward them in a billowing blue windbreaker that rustled at every step.Tootega whistled the dogs to their feet."We go now.""No," said Bergstrom, looking absently across the bay."You take Zanna in the pickup to Chamberlain." He leveled his blue-eyed gaze at the Inuk.Tootega nodded and backed down instantly.Zanna dropped her sleeve."What's happening in Chamberlain?""The bear is ready for release," said Bergstrom, grimacing against the low, sharp sunlight.Tootega grunted in his native tongue.The two men exchanged a short babble of Inuit words, then Bergstrom spoke in English again."Russ is159up there, waiting for you.He'll fly you to the pack ice where you'll set the bear free.Enjoy it, Zanna.David would envy you for this."Zanna pulled off her bobble hat and tied back her hair."David quit," she said."Let's roll."For the first five minutes on the road to Chamberlain, Zanna said nothing, knowing this would irritate Tootega even more.His anxiety levels, already visible in the whiteness of his knuckles as his hands steered the straight gray road ever north, were at a maximum when she eventually said, "The Inuit, they like stories, right?"Tootega breathed in deeply.His narrow black eyes remained fixed on the road.Zanna smiled and folded her arms, shuffling herself into the angle of the seat and the rattling door."On the flight over, David told me one -- set here, in the north, thousands of years ago [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl przylepto3.keep.pl
.Gretel gestured at the listener, who cocked one large and fragile ear, wrapping it close to the centers of the flowers.After a while, its eyes began to open in sheer amazement."Well?" asked David.Ssss! went Gretel.The listener listened.And listened.And listened.With each revelation, it seemed to grow ever more bewildered and shocked."What's it telling him?" David pressed.The flowers faded and the listener pulled away.It took off its spectacles and gave them a polish.Then with a jitter, it related what it had heard.It came in broken phrases, some more revealing than others."Fire star?" muttered David."Gawain?" hurred Gretel.She dropped back onto her haunches, looking slightly frightened.David bolted downstairs again.He found Liz in the hall, waving Henry good-bye."What was all that with the listener?" she asked.155"Go and sit in the living room.We need another cup of tea."She caught his arm."I'd like to know now.""Gretel has 'interrogated' Henry's pot plants.Gwilanna is going to try to raise Gawain.I think she's taken Lucy to the Tooth of Ragnar."156RETURN TO CHAMBERLAINGoing somewhere?"As he turned to see Zanna, leaning back against the outer wall of the base, idly brushing snow off her flawless mukluks, what startled Tootega the most was the stealth she had used to creep up on him.Here she was, a mere girl, a kabluna, inexperienced in the ways of the hunter.And yet she had stalked him as easily as a bear might ambush a fat and witless seal.It was twenty-five yards to the nearest door and the snow was solid enough to crunch when it broke.How had she closed the gap and made no sound? And even if his ears were bemired with blubber, why had the team of dogs not stirred?"Nice woofers," she said, and pushed away from the wall.146157Tootega did not understand these words, but his instincts warned him he was being scorned.He hissed at her through broken yellow teeth as she moved among the thirteen panting huskies.Showing no fear, she crouched by the handsome lead dog, Orak, looking deep into his eyes as she gripped the thick fur around his neck and roughed his head back and forth like a doll.Orak growled, but did not snap or bite."Good boy," she said, and held out her glove.Frightened to see the animal sniffing it, Tootega stepped forward, halfheartedly flicking a sealskin whip."You go.Leave here.""We.talk," said Zanna, using such a mordant edge to her voice that the leather-faced Inuk shuddered and fell back, almost toppling onto his sled.Zanna stood up, testing the tautness of the ropes that bound furs and tarpaulins over a bundle of hidden possessions."Heavy load.Doesn't look like a quick scoot round the bay.Moving igloo, are we?"Tootega swore at her and spat between her feet."Nice," she said, toeing the stain into the snow.158"First you try talismans to scare me away, now your foul smelling, whiskey soaked phlegm." She pulled off a glove and pushed back her sleeve."What does this mean, Inuk?""He can tell you on the way up to Chamberlain," said a voice.And there was Bergstrom, walking steadily toward them in a billowing blue windbreaker that rustled at every step.Tootega whistled the dogs to their feet."We go now.""No," said Bergstrom, looking absently across the bay."You take Zanna in the pickup to Chamberlain." He leveled his blue-eyed gaze at the Inuk.Tootega nodded and backed down instantly.Zanna dropped her sleeve."What's happening in Chamberlain?""The bear is ready for release," said Bergstrom, grimacing against the low, sharp sunlight.Tootega grunted in his native tongue.The two men exchanged a short babble of Inuit words, then Bergstrom spoke in English again."Russ is159up there, waiting for you.He'll fly you to the pack ice where you'll set the bear free.Enjoy it, Zanna.David would envy you for this."Zanna pulled off her bobble hat and tied back her hair."David quit," she said."Let's roll."For the first five minutes on the road to Chamberlain, Zanna said nothing, knowing this would irritate Tootega even more.His anxiety levels, already visible in the whiteness of his knuckles as his hands steered the straight gray road ever north, were at a maximum when she eventually said, "The Inuit, they like stories, right?"Tootega breathed in deeply.His narrow black eyes remained fixed on the road.Zanna smiled and folded her arms, shuffling herself into the angle of the seat and the rattling door."On the flight over, David told me one -- set here, in the north, thousands of years ago [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]