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the difference!:
Keman's face showed no expression, but there was nothing but glee in
his thoughts.:It's what we've needed all along, re-ally what Shana has
needed : he amended.
:Oh, we dragons have thrown our lot in with the Wizardsnow, no matter
what some of us think,:Dora said cheerfully.:It's whatweneed, an ally and a
person inside the ranks of theElvenlords.:
Keman thought a chuckle.:It wouldn 't hurt the Trader clansto
discover they've got some competition, either.:He was be- ginning to resent
the casual way in which the Traders had as-sumed that the Wizards were totally
at their mercy now when itcame to things that the Wizards couldn't produce.
His persis-tent fear was that the Traders would learn that the Iron Folkmost
valued and needed the metal that gave them their name,and would find a way to
supply it in quantity, thereby giving the Iron People no reason to continue
their alliance with the Wiz-ards. That could be a disaster; without the Iron
People, the Wiz-ards didn't have a lot of fighting-types if it came to real
combat.
:But if we can get this new commander on our side, we won'tneed any
fighters!:Dora reminded him excitedly.
:Iwouldn't want to abandon the alliance, though,: he replied with
caution, as he took her tin plate and his own, and scrapedcoals into both of
them to burn off the remains of their stew the most common way any of these
humans here cleaned theirdishes when they were done with them. Even the cooks
cleanedtheir great pots this way sometimes. Especially lately, withKyrtian
moving the army from dawn to just before dark, chas-ing the Young Lords' army.
:Well, do you think you've sufficiently calmed down enoughto help me
reach Shana?:he teased, as he sat down across thefire from her.
Her reply was not translatable, butwas rude. Healmostcracked his
disguise with a grin, then they settled into theirtask looking from the
outside as if they were two middle- aged, weary men dozing by their fire.
Shana had hardly been able to believe what Keman told her; in fact,
the moment he'd told her what Lord Kyrtian was plotting with his aunt
Morthena, she'd asked him to wait for a moment. Then, her blood singing with
excitement, she ran to get Lorryn so thathe could hear and verify it before it
actually sank in astruth.
She pounded down the rough stone corridors, red hairstreaming behind
her, from her chambers to the common-room, where he was sitting with Zed and
one or two others, practicing working in concert and using gemstones to focus
and amplifytheir powers. These were the skills that the younger wizardshad
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
developed that enabled them to do so much more than theirelders abilities
which Caellach Gwain and his cronies re- sented without actually troubling
themselves to learn.
"Keman has some news," she said breathlessly, as the little group
looked up with some surprise at her hasty entrance. "I'd like to hear what you
think about it, if you can spare the time,Lorryn."
"Certainly; we were just about finished anyway." Lorryn stood up, and
handed the basket-full of baby chicks he'd been cradling in his lap to Zed
with a grin. "I never thought that I'd find myself purloining chickens with
magic when I ran off to join the Wizards!"
"Hah. Can you think of any better way to practice the 'safe'
transportation spell?" Zed countered, with his own wide grinsplitting his
tanned and swarthy face. "If you flatten a chick or two, it's no great loss."
"But they're so well,cute  I'd feel guilty," Lorrynprotested, looking
down at the yellow balls of fluff while they cheeped sleepily.
Zed only grinned wider. "All the more incentive, then," hepointed
out.
"Let's take a walk," Shana suggested a good excuse to getaway from
the others. She didn't want to raise hopes that mightbe crushed; Lorryn could
be trusted to consider all possible out- comes and not just the most desired.
Together they could dis-cuss possibilities grim as well as hopeful.
Which is just another reason why I'm glad he's with me.She'dfallen
into the habit of considering him as a partner so quickly itwas almost as [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]