The Price of Wisdom by Shannah Jay

Author:Shannah Jay [Jay, Shannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780330357890
Publisher: Shannah Jay
Published: 1996-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

JAY The Price of Wisdom121

have been walking for more than an hour.'

'Who knows?' Quedras called back. 'But we'll sit firm here till daylight.'

Within another hour or so, dawn broke and they marched on.

'I don't like this,' one of the men from Rakmar's holding muttered. 'I'm not sure we did the right thing leaving home.'

'Well, go back again, then!' yelled Quedras, who had very acute hearing. 'I don't want any mama-babies in my fighting band.'

'Who are you calling a baby? I'll have you know I was the best swordsman in the Holding.'

'Hah! I'm terrified! When we get out of this place, I'll rreally show you how to use a sword.'

Querilla chuckled and added her mite. 'And I'm just as good as he is, so you and I will have a couple of bouts as well, eh, when you've defeated my mate?' She winked at Quedras. With each other to practise with, neither of them doubted they were the best swordfighters in the whole of the Twelve Claims.

Within a couple of hours it was going dark again. 'Better rest!' Quedras ordered. 'Might as well have a nap while we're at it.'

As dawn broke, a new branch began to grow out from the tree, a slender one, with leaves that unfurled quickly, flowers that bloomed and died in a minute, and purple fruit that formed in clusters.

The woman the branch had first touched yelled in shock, then called out to let Quedras know what was happening. 'Hey, it's growing some fruit,' she yelled a minute later.

'Pass one along to Quall. He'll tell us whether we can eat it or not.'

Quall rubbed the juice of the fruit along his lips and waited to see if there would be any reaction. It was hard not to bite into the fruit, it looked so good. 'Better wait at least an hour, then I'll just try a bit,'

he told Quedras.

The air around them suddenly started humming and a deep voice said, 'Fruit safe for humans.

Grown specially.'

'Hah!' said Querilla. 'Quequere was right. These trees can talk.'

There was silence, with someone at the rear gulping audibly, then Quall shrugged. 'If Quequere trusts these tree creatures, so should we.' He bit into the fruit, closing his eyes in ecstasy at the taste.

There was silence as everyone watched him.

'Mmm. It's delicious.' He finished the whole cluster.

Quedras looked back at him. 'Hey, don't eat them all. Pass me some!'

Soon they were all sucking and chewing the juicy purple globes.

'Thanks, tree!' Querilla yelled before they set off.

A vibration was her only answer. Or was it the wind in the leaves?

After a couple more of these short days, they had another nap, sleeping as best they could in niches that grew for them in the branch they were currently on. Fruit and nuts grew around them every time they stopped.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.