Kerr, Katherine - Deverry 12 by Kerr Katherine

Author:Kerr, Katherine
Language: eng
Format: epub

They must have drawn their life from the mother roads.'

They did, or, come to think of it, they must still do so. There has to be at least one mother road that's still open. Otherwise all the daughter roads would be gone.'

They might well disappear, someday. I just hope you can get back again.

'So do I.' Dalla paused for a sharp laugh. 'But I think the roads will last long enough for that.

Ebany's not all that far away. Five or six days' ride, I'd say.'

The fort's that close? By the Black Sun herself! Those Horsekin -bold as stoats and twice as stinky!'

'Well, Ebany flew a good way south before he came to earth. But if we're not back in two days, send Cal and his men north after us.'

Dallandra borrowed a shirt for Salamander from his father, then put it and some food into a sack. She took Valandario along when she left the camp and headed for a nearby stream that ran through the tall grass out by the horse herd. Dallandra was looking for the subtle signs that mark the beginning of an etheric road. Since the combined auras of the horses and the men guarding them blurred the boundaries of the planes, she led Valandario along for a good mile before she finally found what she was looking for. The stream formed a pool at the bottom of a slight drop, and a tangle of hazel withes had sprung up around it. She could see the glimmer of etheric force marking a boundary.

There!' Dallandra pointed. 'On this side just before you reach the hazels. See it?'

'No,' Valandario said, then sighed. I just don't have your gifts.'

'Well, I can't scry the future like you can.'

'True. Now, be careful. I'll be watching for you both.'

Dallandra stepped into the quivering lozenge of etheric force. For a brief moment elemental energy, an etheric outpouring from the running stream beyond, threatened to trap her. She felt it grab her with invisible hands, but in a quick slither she broke free and found herself standing on a low outcrop of rock, a peculiar rock as much blue as grey, that shimmered under her feet. She had found a road.

For a moment she paused to make a detailed image of Salamander in her mind. Since he Page 127

had dweomer himself, the image came easily, showing him mud-encrusted and asleep under a willow tree. He seemed to be lying only a few yards away, but as she walked towards him the image receded, leading her onward. After what seemed a brief interval, the image held steady, then strengthened, turning three-dimensional as she stepped down off the etheric road onto the physical river bank. In the sky sunset flamed. Travelling the roads meant stepping out of Time, which as usual had run far faster on the physical plane than on the network of astral pathways.

Salamander woke with a start and sat up, stretching, grinning at her. 'Ye gods!' he said. 'You can't have flown all this way so fast.

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