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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] His head hurt. Local gendarmes were finally beginning to show up. At their arrival Flinx instinctively turned away, leaving the crowd behind and cradling Pip beneath his slickertic. He was glad that he hadn t been forced to use his own knife, felt lucky to be alive. Maybe now, at last, external forces would leave him and Mother Mastiff and Pip in peace. He thought back a last time to that final instant in the warehouse. The rage and desperation had built up in him until he had been unable to stand it any longer and had charged blindly at the Peaceforcer about to kill Pip. He hoped he would never be that angry again in his life. The crowd ignored the boy as he fled the scene; he vanished into the Page 128 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html comforting shadows and narrow alleys that filtered back toward the central city. There was nothing remarkable about him and no reason for the gendarmes to stop and question him. The old man and the executive who had found him lying in the street had already forgot- ten him, engrossed in the unusual sight of a major fire in perpetually damp Drallar. Flinx made his way back toward the more animated sections of the city, toward the arguing and shouting and smells and sights of the marketplace and Mother Mastiff s warm, familiar little shop. He was sorry. Sorry for all the trouble he seemed to have caused. Sorry for the funny old file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20...inx%201%20-%20For%20Love%20of %20Mother-Not.txt (94 of 96) [1/16/03 6:42:14 PM] file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Flinx%201%20-% 20For%20Love%20of%20Mother-Not.txt Meliorares who were no more. Sorry for the overzealous Peaceforcers. Mother Mastiff wouldn t be sorry, he knew. She could be as vindictive as an AAnn, especially if anything close to her had been threatened. For himself, however, he regretted the deaths of so many. All for nothing, all because of some erratic, harmless, usually useless emotion-reading ability he possessed. Their own fault, though. Everything that happened was their own fault, Meliorares and Peaceforcers alike. He tried to warn them. Never try to come between a boy and his snake. The damp trek homeward exhausted his remaining strength. Never before had the city seemed so immense, its byways and side streets so convoluted and tortuous. He was completely worn out. Mother Mastiff was manning the shop, waiting for him as anxiously as she awaited customers. Her thin, aged arm was strong as she slipped it around his back and helped him the last agonizing steps into the store. I ve been worried like to death over ye, boy! Damn ye for causing a poor old woman such distress. Her fingers touched his bruised cheeks, his forehead, as her eyes searched for serious damage. And you re all cut up and bleeding. What s to become of ye, Flinx? Ye have got to learn to stay out of trouble. He summoned up a grin, glad to be home. It seems to come looking for me, Mother. Hmpnh! Excuses. The boy s wit is chock full of excuses. What happened to ye? He tried to marshal his thoughts as he slid Pip out from beneath the slickertic. Mother Mastiff backed away. The millidrag was as limp as a piece of rope. It lay curled up in its master s lap, if not asleep then giving a fine scaly im- itation of some similar state. Some people kidnaped Pip. They called themselves Meliorares. But they really wanted me. They- His expression screwed tight as he remembered, One of them said something about wanting to fix me. Fix what? What did they want with me? She considered a long moment, studying the boy. Truly, it appeared that he was telling the truth, that he had learned no more than what he said. Ignoring the proximity of the hated flying snake, she sat down and put an arm around his shoulders. Now mark me well, boy, because this is vital to ye. I don t have to tell ye that you re different. You ve always been different. Ye have to hide that as best ye can, and we ll have to hide ourselves. Drallar s a big place. We can move the shop if need be. But you re going to have to learn to live quietly, and you re going to have to keep your differences to yourself, or we ll be plagued with more of this unwelcome and unwholesome attention. It s all so silly, Mother, lust because I can sometimes sense what other people are feeling? That. And maybe more. There isn t anything more. That s all I can do. Page 129 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Is it, boy? How did ye get away from these people. She looked past him toward the street, suddenly concerned. Will they be coming after ye again? I don t think so. Most of them were kind of dead when I left. I don t know how I got away from them. I think one of them shot at something explosive and it blew up. I was blown clear out of a building and into the street. Lucky to be alive ye are, it seems, though by what providence I wonder. Maybe tis best this way. Maybe tis best ye don t know too much about yourself just yet. Your mind always was advanced of your body, and maybe there s something more that s advanced even of that. But I don t want to be different, he insisted, almost crying. I just want to be like everyone else. I know ye do, boy, she said gently, but each of us must play the cards fate [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |