[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

the hooves of the plunging animals, and Aurian fought to keep her balance by hanging on grimly to the bridle of her
wheeling mount. Then mercifully, the world began to settle.
"Anvar!." Heartsick, Aurian scrambled toward the edge of the slide but hands were holding her back. After a frantic
struggle she realized that Yazour and Eliizar were hanging on to her arms.
"Wait, Aurian," the young warrior told her urgently, "lest we lose you too!"
As the echoes of the avalanche died away, Aurian, her knuckles clenched tight against her mouth, stepped forward
with Yazour and Eliizar, and looked down into the pass. Crystalline clouds of powdered ice hung in the air as a silvery
haze above the snow slide, obscuring what lay below. Raven landed beside them. "We must wait until it settles." She
sounded very subdued. "I can see nothing down there."
Aurian cursed. "You wait. I'm going now."
"Let me I can move faster on that slippery surface." It was Shia. "Follow but take care, my friend. We want no more
falls today!" With a bound, the great cat was gone.
Behind the Mage, Bohan and Nereni were picking themselves up. Barring a bruise or two, the eunuch seemed unhurt,
and went limping off to gather up the reins of the horses. A shaken Nereni had to be helped to her feet by Eliizar. Her
face was streaked with tears, and blood poured from a cut in her forehead, where she had been caught by a flying
hoof. Aurian, numb with shock over Anvar's disappearance she would not let herself call it more than that found
herself thinking that the woman was lucky to be alive . . . With that, the Mage's thoughts returned to Anvar.
At the top of the pass, the rocky trail had been swept almost bare of snow. What was left had been smoothed and
impacted in patches by the avalanche until it looked like glass. Aurian felt a shiver of dread. Automatically, she groped
in her belt for the Staff of Earth to help her balance and stopped dead, her eyes wide with horror. Dear Gods, if the
Staff had been lost . . . Flinging caution to the winds, she started down.
Luckily, Yazour caught up with her before she had gone more than a step or two and even that had been almost
enough to send her hurtling to the bottom of the defile. He caught her arm as she floundered for balance.
"Take care!" he scolded, handing her one of the stout walking staffs that Bohan had cut for her companions before
they left the forest. "You should have waited." "But " Aurian protested.
The warrior hushed her. "I know," he told her sadly. "We have no choice, however we must go slowly, if we hope to
reach the bottom intact"
Though Aurian was frantic with fear for Anvar, not to mention the fate of the Staff, it was impossible to descend the
pass with any speed. Visibility, between the heavy gray sky and the steepening walls of the defile on either side was
poor, and the trail was like glass underfoot. She had to test her footing with each step before she could put her weight
on it, and to make matters worse, she was continually unbalanced by the bulk of the child she carried.
Partway down, they came across the unfortunate horse. It lay broken and bloody beside the trail, its neck and limbs
wrenched askew at impossible angles. Aurian turned away, with tight throat and clenched teeth, unable to stop herself
thinking of Anvar. Yazour's hand tightened on her arm. One look at his grim and pallid face, and Aurian knew that his
thoughts were similar to her own. "Perhaps we should wait for the others?" he suggested tentatively.
The Mage shook her head. "It's no use putting it off."
It was then, in that darkest of moments, that Shia's voice burst into Aurians mind.  Anvar is alive !
It was as well that the avalanche had already spent itself. Aurian let out a whoop that unbalanced her again, and sent
her slithering down the trail. Yazour caught at her, and they slid for several feet before coming to an unsteady halt
against the rocky wall of the defile, while Yazour blistered the air with curses. Aurian hugged him. "He's all right,
Yazourl Shia says he's all right!"
Abruptly, the warrior stopped swearing. "You sorcerers! How in the Reaper's name did he manage that?"
Anvar, lying half stunned in a pile of snow at the bottom of the trail, was wondering much the same thing. Shia looked
him over anxiously, poking him from time to time with her great black muzzle. "Nothing broken?"' she asked sharply.
"I don't think so ... I can move my arms and legs . . ."
"I suggest you move them, then, before you freeze!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]