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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] are larger; but look how long the hilt is on her." Donya carefully drew the sword, and they fell silent. The strange pale metal and its obvious lightness were unmistakable. "No wonder the hilt was so long," Mist murmured. "It was made to a six-fingered hand." Farryn darted forward, his eyes wide, speaking so rapidly and excitedly that even had he used Isseldik which, in his agitation, he did not Shadow could never have understood a word of it. He reached out as if to wrench the sword from Donya's grasp. Donya quickly held it away from him, even as both Mist and Shadow reached automatically for their daggers. Farryn glanced quickly at the three of them and subsided reluctantly to the other side of the room, his face furrowed with frustration. "Farryn's scabbard was plain," Shadow remembered, slowly resheathing her dagger when it became obvious that the tense moment had passed. "But these designs by Fortune's right hand, I'd swear I've seen something like it before. I wish I could remember where. Seems like Farryn knows, at least." "But there's more," Celene said. There was a bone scroll-case in the bundle, carved in similar designs. Donya picked it up, probing at the ends, but could find no opening. "Want to give it a try?" Donya said, handing it to Shadow. Shadow scrutinized the scrollcase closely, twisting it carefully this way and that, but could find no crack or catch. "It would be a shame to damage the case," Mist said, "but doubtless the contents are important, for it to be given you in such a manner." "Well, let's not break it," Shadow said quickly. "I can get it open one way or another." "Are you still wearing that bracelet?" Celene asked, amazed. "It's safer on my wrist than in storage," Shadow shrugged. "Besides, I never know when I might need it. Anyway, half of Allanmere knows I own the thing, and most often it's the half of Allanmere I wouldn't want to know it." "What bracelet?" Mist asked curiously. "This one," Shadow said, pushing up her sleeve to display the silver filigree set with blue-green skystones circling her left wrist. Mist touched the delicate-looking design of leaves and vines. "This is Aspen's work, is it not?" he asked. Shadow sighed exasperatedly. "Where were you about two years ago?" Shadow demanded. "You could've saved me an awful lot of trouble." "My lady, I would flay my own hide with a dull knife and bathe in salt to spare you the slightest difficulty," Mist said, sweeping an exaggeratedly gallant bow. "However, two years ago I was deep in the Heartwood and had never heard the sweet music of your name, save for odd tales of a sly and rambling elf who had departed the Heartwood long ago, leaving it bereft of its greatest trickster." "All right, all right," Shadow laughed. "Point made. Now let's see about this case." She clasped it in her left hand, covering as much of the surface as her small fingers could. "Aufrhyr." Under her hand the entire tube seemed to shift; the upper half of the tube divided into quarters, and two of them slid up and over. Shadow lifted the moved sections off easily, exposing a tightly rolled sheet within. The parchment, nurtured by the preservation spell, was as crisp and fresh as the day it had been sealed in its case. It was sealed with red wax, imprinted with a design Shadow had seen before a stylized eye, such as that depicted on the amulet Farryn wore. "Should I break it?" Shadow asked Donya. "You may as well," Donya shrugged. "It's not going to do us any good sealed." Shadow carefully broke the seal, then gently unrolled the parchment. Besides being rolled tightly, it was folded over three times, so that the resulting sheet covered the table on which it lay. Given the seal and the nature of the sword, Shadow was not overly surprised to see a map similar to the one Farryn had brought, in the sense that Shadow's bracelet was similar to one of crudely hammered tin and glass gems. This was no hastily penned copy; this was an original, meticulously drawn and finely detailed in what Shadow supposed was as fine a script as she'd ever seen. "Look here," Mist said, pointing to the bottom of the map. There were two lines of intricate characters there solid lines, unbroken by spaces or any punctuation Shadow could identify. The characters themselves were so intricate and ornate that Shadow wondered whether they were indeed letters or perhaps an ornamental border. Farryn left his bed to look over their shoulders, but did not interfere. "This map was drawn from the same period as the other," Celene said, indicating the shape of the Heartwood and the course of the Brightwater River. "What's this?" Donya asked, pointing to the swamp area. Two areas were clearly marked, one with a small cluster of flat-side-down hemispheres, and another, farther to the west, with the stylized eye. "Maybe directions for good fishing," Celene said wryly. "That part of the Reaches, from what maps I've seen, is wet marsh most of the year. In fact, this part" she tapped the eye "is probably submerged entirely during spring floods." "This is interesting," Shadow said, tapping several symbols drawn at various points at the western edge of the forest. "What are those?" Donya asked. "Old Olvenic, isn't it?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |