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.”“No worries, lad,” the old lady replied.“We really only do have that one mule, and you’ve given us more excitement than we’ve had since that dragon flew over in the Year of the Bloodbird.”I looked back at Chrysaor then to Joen, and asked, “So?”Her scowl softened a bit.After a few moments, she nodded her assent.“We’re agreed, then,” Chrysaor said jovially.“We should be off at once, unless you have other plans.”“Lead on,” Joen said, but she wasn’t the slightest bit happy about it.CHAPTER EIGHT“Well, this is exciting, eh?” Joen said over the crackle of the fire and the howl of the wind.She did little to hide the sarcasm in her voice.We had set up our camp in the midst of a small grove of pines that sheltered us from the wind still blowing hard from the north.At the edge of Neverwinter Wood, a tenday and a half’s journey north of Tessa’s village, we had finally come to the Tower of Twilight.Or, rather, we’d come to a small pond with a tiny, empty island bordered by the grove of pines.Winter had not yet relinquished its grip here, and patches of snow dotted the area.The journey had been arduous, the road a mix of mud and snow, the wind often biting.But the sky had been bright, the clouds few, and on some days, we’d even been warm.We had journeyed more slowly than I was used to, partly because Chrysaor had walked ahead of us—a good ways ahead, by Joen’s insistence—but partly because Haze had still seemed weak.We had stopped well before nightfall each day, and had risen after daybreak.I had said it was to avoid having to make or break camp during the cold, dark, northern spring nights, but really I had just wanted to let Haze rest.It had struck me how greatly Haze’s stamina had lessened, and I had feared that maybe the magic that had allowed her to run so swiftly, even across water, had come at a greater price than I’d imagined.The nights had been cold, but Tessa had given us some warm blankets before we left—they’d been her son’s, and she had no longer needed them.In payment, she had requested that we visit if ever we were in the area again, a request Joen and I heartily agreed to.But today had dawned cold, and it had stayed cold.Clouds had hovered low over the land, and the wind had blown fiercely.It had been barely past midday when Chrysaor stopped his march and had called for us to set camp here in the trees.When he had told us we’d arrived, I had laughed at first—Joen hadn’t, she had simply scowled.But now, after a few hours, I came to realize the blue-skinned pirate had been serious.“His friends ain’t on time, I guess,” Joen said.“That, or he’s lost his mind,” I replied.“Oi, he never had one to begin with.”I laughed as a light snow blew up on the wind—the beginnings of a late-season snowstorm.The sun, masked behind the clouds, touched the southwestern horizon.“Nothing to do now,” I said.“It’s late, it’s snowing, and this is as good a place to camp as any.”“No,” said Chrysaor, approaching the fire, the light reflecting weirdly off his blue skin, tinting him a deep violet.“It’s as good as any place under the open sky.But tonight, you will sleep in beds, I assure you.It won’t be much longer now.”“Before what, eh?” Joen said.“Before your crew shows up to kill us?”Chrysaor shook his head.“Patience is a virtue you should learn, little lady,” he said with a wry grin.“Call me ‘little lady’ ever again,” Joen snarled, “and I’ll cut you just right so you can take the nickname as your own.”It took me a moment to sort out what she meant, but when I did, I found myself turning my hips away from her and crossing my legs.“What do you prefer, then?” Chrysaor asked.“I’ve been calling you ‘child,’ and you’ve yet to protest.”“I’d prefer you not talk to me at all,” she said.The pirate nodded, bowed low, and turned back to the pond.Or, rather, to the shimmering image floating above the pond.As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, the very last ray of light traced its way up an object, a tower, standing on the tiny island.Its twin spires reached skyward, twisting into the night sky, each point sparkling like starlight.The whole structure was emerald green, brilliant as Joen’s eyes.A beam of green light traced out from the base of the tower, across the pond to the near shore, forming a sort of bridge of light.I approached tentatively, Joen and Haze following.Chrysaor did not move.“I lead no farther,” he said.“I have shown you to the tower, but I have no place here.”“Why not?” I asked, a bit surprised.“Oi, don’t ask him that,” Joen said.“He might change his mind.”“No, child, I will not,” Chrysaor said.“But this is not my quest.”“Your quest is to follow me,” I said.“But you won’t follow me inside?”“Don’t worry,” Chrysaor said with a laugh.“I’ll be fine without you.” He bowed low, sweeping off his hat.“Farewell, and good luck.”The blue pirate, the man who had twice tried to kidnap me, turned on his heel and walked away, disappearing into the grove of pines.I stared after him for a long time.I hadn’t expected that.Joen just shrugged and walked past me to the bank of the pond and the green light.“D’you think it’s a bridge?” Joen asked.I stepped closer to the beam of light, though looking at it made me dizzy.It was like a rainbow, but I could clearly see the ends of it—one right in front of me, the other at the foot of the strange tower.“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head.“We could swim across.”“Why go to all this trouble to make us think it’s a bridge if we only end up falling in the water anyway, eh?” Joen said as she stretched out her foot, gingerly touching the light.I reached out to pull her back, afraid of … I don’t know what.But before I touched her, her toe touched the light.She seemed fine.“So?” I asked.“What is it?”She looked at me, smiled, and stepped forward.She looked quite strange, standing on a beam of light, hovering a few feet above the still water.“C’mon, then,” she said with a smile.“Let’s see what’s here, eh?” She laughed and ran off across the bridge, then around the base of the tower and out of sight.Haze and I followed, reaching the island just as Joen completed her lap of the structure.“No door,” she said, but she was still smiling.“You think it’s magically hidden, maybe?” I asked.“Oi, I sure hope so!” Joen said.“You like magic,” I noted.Joen nodded enthusiastically.“A bit too much, I think,” I said, looking up at the seemingly impenetrable tower.She scoffed and said, “Hey, this was all your idea.And besides, ain’t no such thing as liking something too much.”“That, my dear girl,” said a voice, “is simply not true.”A man strode out from the wall—directly through the wall, not through some concealed door—as if he were some sort of apparition, some ghost.Joen jumped a bit, startled [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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