Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey Halfblood Chronicles 01 The Elvenbane

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Somebody's lunch, if he wasn't too hungry&
Tears welled up in her eyes as she clenched her hands into fists,
fingernails cutting into her palms. They spilled down her cheeks, burning
their way through the mingled sweat and dust, as the last rays of the sun
faded and the light disappeared from Shana's little pocket, leaving only the
blue glow of dusk.
Her chest tightened and ached, her throat closed, and more silent
tears followed the first. She felt cheated, somehow, or betrayed.
Why didn't they tell me? Why didn't theytellme? If Myre knew what I
was, then Keman knew, he had to why did he let me think I was Kin? Why didn't
Foster Mother tell me? She found me! She knew from the beginning what the
truth was!
She cried silently, sobs shaking her thin frame, and hugged her arms
to her chest in a vain attempt to keep the ache from overwhelming her. Arms
that would never wear scales, or sprout long, fierce talons. She would never
fly in the Thunder Dance, never be a shaman like Foster Mother.
Never.
Why didn't they tell me?
The question produced a curious change; hurt became anger, and while
the tears continued, they grew hotter and less frequent.
They didn't tell her because they didn't care. They were just like
all the rest! They didn't care because she was just an animal and she didn't
matter.
The sense of pressure she had been creating while she tried, in vain,
to work the shape-shift built up inside her again. She hugged herself and
rocked back and forth in impotent rage.It's all their fault. It's all their
fault! They don't care and it's all their fault!I ll show them I
She felt something snap inside her, and pounded her fists on the
ground and howled with rage
Suddenly every rock within touching distance flew into the air and
hurled itself against the walls of the crevice; some hard enough to split
themselves in two or more pieces.
She was so angry that for a moment this didn't even startle her, she
just stretched out her hand to grab a bigger rock close by and throw it after
the others throw it at a target she'd spotted high up on the wall. But it rose
into the air and struck the projection shaped like a rough dragon's head, and
Page 91
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Shana watched as it and her target vanished in a shower of tiny bits of sand
and rock.
The ground squirrel that called the crevice his home came shooting
out of his burrow, tail high and stiff, bounding with rage, to chitter angrily
at her.
His temper called up answering temper in her.
Shana didn't even think. A rock simply rose up from beside her right
hand, and hurtled across the crevice.
Her aim when throwing rocks by hand was no better than any other
child's. Her aim withthis weapon of the mind was deadly and accurate.
The rock shot across the crevice so fast that it whistled; hit the
little rodent in the head and killed it instantly.
The body tumbled from the top of the burrow and lay on the grass,
like a little lump of squirrel-shaped mud in the blue twilight.
Unbidden, Foster Mother's voice filled her mind. "Study the ground
squirrel so that you may become one with him. & "
A terrible quiet filled the crevice. Shana came back to herself,
thrown out of her temper with the shock of what she had just done. She had
often spoken blithely of "making a kill" with Keman, but the fact was that she
had never actually killed or even harmed another living creature.
Until this moment.
Never had she wanted so much to undo something she had done. Never
had it been so impossible to undo it.
There was no point in going to look at the squirrel; she knew by the
way it was lying that she had broken its neck and back. But she crept to it on
hands and knees, anyway, and picked up the tiny body, cradling it in her hand.
The body was still warm, the fur soft, all the little limbs limp.
"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely, the tears starting again. "I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to honest, I didn't. I'm really, really sorry "
But the squirrel cooled swiftly on her palm, stiffening. It didn't
spring magically to life again.
"I was supposed to learn about you." She sobbed, crying in earnest
now. "I was supposed to learn about you, and I killed you! I "
She put the little body in the depression that had held her cache of
gems and piled rocks over him. She wanted to use her newfound power to do
it it seemed fittest but the power seemed to have vanished along with her
anger. So she built the tiny cairn by hand, crying with all her heart as she
did so.
When she finally managed to stop crying, it was completely dark, and
she had to make her way down the hillside by moonlight. It was slow,
deliberate work; carefully placing each hand and foot, and testing the ground
before she trusted her full weight to it.
It gave her plenty of time to think.
Page 92
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
She felt for a toehold and looked up at the moon and stars, trying to
judge how far she had come. Ididn't mean to kill him . But she had, and she
did it with her power.That must be why I lost it. Because I killed with it .
She didn't know whether to burst into further tears, or oddly feel
relief. The power had been intoxicating while she used it, but now, in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

pobieranie @ do ÂściÂągnięcia @ ebook @ download @ pdf