Crystal Healer_ A Stardoc Novel S.L. Viehl

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said would be 'to see clearly forever.' "
I recalled the words Dnoc had used when he had spoken to me. "The chieftain used the same word when he called me on who belonged to the great
healer."
Jylyj averted his gaze. "Translations are not always exact."
"So what did it mean when Dnoc said it?" I persisted.
"The exact words he used could be interpreted to mean 'crystal healer,' " the Skartesh said reluctantly.
"Such subtle differences in word meanings are often difficult for non-native speakers to learn," Reever said. "You display an admirable grasp of this
language."
"I have a small natural talent for interpreting, and even once considered becoming a linguist, like you," Jylyj told him. "But the call to healing was too
much for me." He moved to help the old storyteller take down the hide. "I will stay and help him carry this back to his kiafta. You should go and sleep now.
The guide will be ready to leave the encampment at dawn."
Reever remained very quiet as we walked back to the shelters, so much so that I stopped him just before we entered. The cold air enclosed us in its
frigid stillness, and our breaths formed thick white puffs as we looked at each other.
"I am sorry that I lost my temper earlier," I said. "I'll try to get along with your friend."
"It is not that." He touched my arm. "We can't talk out here. Come inside."
We found Uorwlan sitting at the table and cleaning her weapons. She gave me a sideways glance. "Here, little sister." She offered me one of her finest
daggers. "I apologize for goading you. I am happy that Reever has taken a wife, even if he had the very bad taste to choose someone other than me."
I accepted her apology and offered my own, along with my finest blade, which seemed to settle matters between us, at least for now. Reever sat down
across from the Takgiba and took out the hide map for her to see.
Uorwlan wasn't interested in the map, however. "You have that look in your eyes, the one you used to get whenever a slaver tried to bribe us. What is it?
"
"The Skartesh with us is acting as our interpreter," Reever said. "I think he also is deceiving us. I have absorbed enough of the tribe's language to know
most of their common concepts. When I asked the Skartesh about a symbol that I believe represents death, he claimed the oKiaf use the word only in
their myths, and don't apply the concept in reference to what happens to them at the end of life. Yet tonight when I asked the old storyteller if a symbol on
the hide meant death, he wasn't offended. He genuinely didn't know what I meant--as if the end of life, or death itself, had no meaning for him."
"It could be what Jylyj was trying to say," I suggested. "Perhaps he worded his explanation badly. He didn't translate the words Dnoc used to me exactly
as he should have."
"I would agree, but there was something else. The storyteller used three specific words to describe the center symbols on his hide. Jylyj only translated
two of them to mean 'crystal eternity.' " I know the oKiaf word for eternity: detorne. The storyteller did not utter that word."
"What did he say?" Uorwlan asked.
"Naif valen fian."
She shook her head. "I have never heard those words spoken, so I can't translate them for you. But if this Skartesh has lied about the meaning of one
word, it's likely that he's lied about others. Tell me more about him."
"He will return soon," I warned. "I will keep watch for him while you talk."
While I stood at the entry hide and acted as lookout, Reever related to Uorwlan everything we knew about Jylyj, including how he had denied being the
one I had seen in the water on Joren.
"I know these people," I heard the Takgiba say after my husband had finished. "I've traded with them regularly for the last five years, and spend every
summer here hunting with them. I've an ear for languages, you know that, and still I've learned enough of their tongue only to communicate the basics. It
would take a lifetime of living with the tribe to understand the things this Skartesh claims he knows."
I saw a tall, lean figure approaching and turned my head. "He's coming."
"Is this the way into his shelter?" Uorwlan asked, pointing to the side entry. When I nodded, she unfastened it.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
"I mean to see if this Skartesh knows how to properly warm a female," she said, "and if he talks in his sleep." Her tail shivered as she stepped through
and vanished.
"She will get herself beaten," I muttered, waiting to hear Jylyj shout at the Takgiba, but hearing nothing at all. Then a faint growling sound came from the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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