The cursed towers 257
Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (3.14 KB, 1 trang )
transformation. Isabeau thrust herself between them, keeping her mother back and shielding her from
Maya with her own body.
"Stop it!" she cried. "Mam, it's all right. She's changed dai-dein back. He's a man again. He thinks he's
still a horse but we can teach him again, I know we can."
"Khan'gharad? A man?" Ishbel faltered. Isabeau nodded and her mother turned and flew down the stairs
without a word, swift as a snow goose.
Isabeau turned back to Maya, Bronwen still clinging to her, face buried in her neck. "Ye canna take your
daughter," she said firmly. "Ye may stay here with me and learn to ken her again, but ye canna take her
away. This is the only home she kens and I'm the closest thing to a mother she's ever had. Besides, ye
will both die in the snows. Winter is coming and ye do no' ken the ways o' the mountains or where the
hot mineral pools are. So do no' think ye can steal her and run away by transforming me into some
horrible wee animal, for if ye do, both o' ye will die. Do ye understand?"
Maya smiled at her warmly. "O' course I understand and indeed I canna think o' anything I want more
than to stay with ye and my daughter, and get to ken and love ye both again. For we are friends, are we
no'?"
"Nay," Isabeau said steadily. "Ye are the enemy o' my people and ye have done more evil than anyone I
know. We are no' friends at all."
Maya's smile faded and she looked away wistfully. "Still, I canna think o' anything that would make me
happier," she said gently. "I thank ye. Now, please, may I hold my daughter? I have longed to have her in
my arms again."
Reluctantly Isabeau unclasped Bronwen's chubby arms from around her neck and gently, with soft
reassurances, passed her to Maya. The Fairge cuddled her close, crooning to her, and jealousy struck
through Isabeau like a knife. She said abruptly, "I must see what I can do for Feld, who is sore hurt, and
for my father. Ye may sleep in the room across from mine. Remember what I said. Ye do no' ken the
way through the mountain and there are many dangers. Frost giants and woolly bears, avalanches and
evil ogres. Ye would both die if ye tried to escape."
"But I do no' want to escape," Maya said with a smile in her husky voice. She rested her cheek on
Bronwen's dark, silky head. "I have what I came for."
THE WEAVER'S SHUTTLE FLIES
In the Mirror
Khan'gharad tossed back his wild, red hair and scrambled across the room on all fours. Porridge was
smeared all over his face and ran in clumps and dribbles down his tangled, red beard. He was barefoot,
dressed only in an old robe of Feld's that had not been buttoned up properly so it gaped in odd places.
