Laurie Marks Elemental Logic 01 Fire Logic

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Emil lay in wait for Zanja, but only now did she realize that it was no
accident. The two of you are taking turns,� she said.
Medric grinned. �It�s a measure of how preoccupied you are that it took so
long
for you to realize it. Here, sit down. I want to talk to you.�
She sat on one of the large stones that served them as furniture. The entire
population of the Otter People�s village seemed to be out on the lake this
warm
afternoon. One of the young people engaged in a raucous boat race was a
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stocky,
brown-haired South Hill farmer who seemed on the verge of tipping her boat
into
the water. It hardly mattered, since Annis wore no clothing. The sun had
cooked
her brown as a loaf of overcooked bread. Someone dumped Annis into the water
and
she came up laughing.
�There is a shadow over Karis,� Medric said. �And it lies over you as well,
since you have bound yourself to share her fate.�
�What shadow?� Zanja asked. �Death, is that it? Madness? Neither one seems
worse
than this torture.�
Medric said, �A moment of decision is coming upon you, a time when you must
see
clearly and speak with courage. But you have lost your vision. Karis�s whole
attention is on the water dripping from her clock, and there�s a kind of
madness
in that�one that you have come to share with her. Here, eat this.�
He had given her a piece of the Otter People�s flatbread, with some of the
ubiquitous smoked fish rolled up inside. Zanja ate it rather as Karis would
have
done, obediently, without hunger or pleasure. Medric pushed his spectacles up
onto the bridge of his nose and gazed rather blearily out across the water,
blinking in the glare. �These water folk make me see how much we fire bloods
are
bound by our seriousness. Everything we do seems fraught with importance.
It�s
easy to lose perspective.� He took off his spectacles and put on the other
pair.
�Aha!�
Zanja said, �What can�t I see?�
�I have seen Karis lift a hammer and strike, and the sparks fall around her in
a
shower of gold. I see her shaping the world on her forge.�
There was a silence. Zanja said, �Will you stay here for a while and keep an
eye
on Karis? I want a bath.�
She took the cake of soap and bathed in the downriver end of the lake,
washing
even her stinking clothing and dirty hair, and when she came back with her
dripping laundry in her arms, Medric loaned her a clean shirt to wear and
combed
her hair for her. Then, as Zanja braided her hair, he read out loud from one
of
the half dozen books that he and Emil continued to haul around with them,
though
most of the library was safely stored. He read a history of a time so ancient
the story seemed more myth than fact, yet the tale had an eerie familiarity:
a
tale of people arriving by sea to a land inhabited by tribal folk, and how at
first they had been conquerors until at last the land tamed them and taught
them
how to live upon it. That land had been Shaftal.
Zanja lay back, with her hair only half braided, dazed by cleanliness and
sunshine and the easy rhythms of Mednc�s reading voice, and the ancient
cycles
of history. Medric broke off and said, �Here�s Emil, looking grumpy, and the
water witch.�
Zanja sat up and rubbed her eyes. Two boats had landed on the beach. The
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water
witch, carrying a heavy jug, went into Karis�s cave. Zanja started to get up,
but Emil�s hand restrained her. Medric went back to his reading, and then he
and
Emil sat talking about history for hours. When at last the water witch
reappeared, he crouched down beside Zanja and said, �Give her the water to
drink
until she has drunk dry the jug.�
�Esteemed sir, as you will,� she said, and bowed.
He got into his boat and rowed away.
�You absorb language like paper absorbs ink,� said Medric admiringly.
�Land have mercy,� Emil said, �isn�t the man tired yet? He took me on a
half-day
journey upstream until my arms were about to fall off from rowing, and then
we
had to climb the cliff to a little spring that bubbled out from a crack in
the
stone. I�m certain he explained it to me, but unlike Zanja, I don�t understand
a
word he says.�
Zanja said, �You obviously are the elder of our tribe. Therefore, you stand
witness on our behalf.�
�Witness to what, though?� Emil said, rubbing a stiff shoulder.
Medric lifted his head and smiled suddenly. Zanja turned to look at what he
was
seeing, and leapt to her feet and ran to the doorway of the little cave,
where
Karis stood, braced between stones. Karis said thickly, �If I�m to receive
guests now I should be more presentable.� She dropped her shirt, which she
had
been unbuttoning, and walked across the beach and into the water.
Zanja picked up the shirt, which was even more rank than hers had been, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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