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.It& humbles me to apologize to you, ababy-murdering drug addict, he said deliberately, for teaching meabout learning to accept and forgive.I ve been so short-sighted thatI can t even recognize the only person you who understands Dionenough to keep her sane. So it s for Dion, not me, that you offer this apology thisKum-jan. No.It s for me, and you. She eyed him warily, as if he would bite, and the older manshrugged. I might be arrogant as an Ancient, Tehena, but I m not tooproud to apologize.And if, for once, you want to spend time with aman you know respects you, then take Kum-jan with me. He waited.She didn t speak.He waited still.Finally, he steppedforward and took her arm and led her to an empty room upstairs.In the village, Asuli finished her trading and made a beeline forthe local healer s house.It was an older woman with faded whitehair and spidery arms who came to the door.The old woman scirclet was simple and old made more than two centuriesago and Asuli nodded at the healer in acknowledgment of herstatus. How can I help you? the old woman asked.Asuli stepped inside.Dion could feel the wolves gathering outside the village.Thepacksong had grown since they had cut through the ridges andcome down into the valley.Something had disturbed them andpulled them after her, and their voices were beginning to cloud hermind.It had been hours since Dion and the others had arrived in thetown, but for once she didn t want to move on.She knew almost noone here, and it was quiet except for the wolves.They were thickhere as though, she admitted, the closer to her childhood home she got, the stronger grew the graysong.Last night, the wolves hadbeen in her mind, whispering and howling and curling around theslitted yellow eyes.This morning, they were a growing din thatcrashed against the insides of her skull.She clenched her fists toseparate the sense of lupine pads on the palm of her hand from thatof her own fingers.Twenty years ago, Ramaj Randonnen had been one of the fewcounties that still bred a wolfwalker every decade or so.Twelveyears ago, the wolves had come back to the county, spreading fromacross the River Phye into Ariye and Randonnen.If, in the yearssince then, the wolves had multiplied as they seemed to have, thereshould be wolfwalkers in every mountain village, wolfwalkers inevery town.But Dion didn t stretch her mind to feel them.Therewere faces, old friends and teachers, in these villages who mightrecognize her still, and she had no wish to see anyone butstrangers, who would not ask what had happened to make her eyesso dark.The commons house had cooled quickly once the sun went down,but the chill, like the wolves, seemed to draw Dion outside to thebalcony between the rooms.Kiyun was already out there, watchingthe stars and the black silhouette of the mountains.For a while,they simply leaned on their elbows and watched the yellow lights inthe homes and the people moving through the streets carryinglate-night bundles and walking beneath the summer stars.Dion svoice was quiet when she finally spoke. I hear his voice at night,sometimes, she said.Kiyun glanced at her. You hear the wolves he s in theirmemories. I know. Yellow, slitted eyes flickered, and Dion shivered in thepacksong.Hishn s voice, so distant, barely touched the back of hermind, as if the wolf howled her longing from a year away.Dionclosed her eyes.She imagined she could see the massive wolf, butthe eyes that looked back at her were foreign, not familiar.Wolfwalker Run with us, the Gray Ones howled in her head.tonight. You have to let him go, Kiyun said. You know that, Dion. She and rubbed her arms. It s the dreams on which he has thestrongest hold.At night, when the lights fade& The wolves howlinside my skull, and I see him when my eyes are closed as though my mind fights fever demons. He s dead, Dion.Let go of him, and you ll begin to sleep again.Hold on much longer, and you ll dig your own grave with him. It s not me holding him it s his voice in the packsong.Dantondied, and there was nothing left but emptiness.But with Aranur&I set the wolves to find him, and they hunted him even as he wasdying.He could feel them, so he was in their packsong.And whenhe died, as he fell, he set his words in their memories, so that all Ihear now behind the wolves is him calling, over and over and overagain, Wolfwalker, wolfwalker, wolfwalker. He loved you, Dion. She looked at him. He was jealous of you, Kiyun.He was afraidyou would take me away from him, just as the wolves sometimesdid.He never understood that I could no more leave him than Icould leave Hishn. I know. Her voice trembled. He thought I bought all that art for youbecause I took Kum-jan with you.He went to his grave thinkingthat I wanted more than him and took what I wanted from you.Henever knew that I bought that art because you& you& Because I was too embarrassed to buy it for myself. His thick,muscled hand covered hers. And you were the only friend I couldtrust to buy it for me and not laugh at me. He squeezed her hand. After all, he added wryly, who would believe that a fighter likeme was really a frustrated artist? That won a faint smile from her, but it faded almost as soon as ithad touched her lips.The wolves howled, and her hands trembled,and she pulled away from him to clench her hands against herarms. I loved my son, Kiyun. I know. I don t want to go on without him. I know, he repeated softly.him. And I hateHe glanced at her soberly. For leaving me. Her voice was low. For racing away to themoons before I could explain the things I didn t say to him before. For abandoning me to deal with everything he planned andexpected.For taking the path to the moons where he ll be up therewith Danton, and leaving me a son who hates me.Moons, Kiyun.Itisn t Danton who needs him in the heavens; it s Olarun who needshim here.But he s gone, and he s locked me into a life of nothingbut duty.I blame him for dying isn t that rich? And I blame thewolves for haunting me with his voice, his touch, his eyes, whilethey let my Danton s memory sit as still as stone. She rubbed ather temples. It s natural, Dion, to feel as you do. Is it? I wonder sometimes if this is some exclusive humanthing this blaming that we do
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Tematy
IndexChrista Wick [Wolf Clan 03] Alpha Curves [MF] (epub)
Molly Harper Jane Jameson 01 Grzeczne dziewczynki nie majš kłów [nieofic.]
Harpercollins, Oops 20 Life Lessons From The Fiascoes That Shaped America [2006 Isbn0060780835]
§ Haas Wolf Simon Brenner 06 Wieczne życie
Signs Wolf Granite Lake Wolves 01
Lindskold, Jane [Firekeeper 06] Wolf's Blood
Harris Charlaine Harper Connelly 04 Grobowa tajemnica
Kaje Harper Hidden Wolves 2 Unexpected Demands (2)
Kate Steele To Tempt A Wolf
Christine Feehan Dark Wolf