[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

somewhere, saying something about standing guard.
 Then if he s at a camp, they aren t coming to set a trap for us here, Stands-in-
Smoke mused. She sounded as if the concept shocked her.
Gwendith nodded, and then shook her head.  I don t know it was so easy,
maybe I just imagined it.
 It s your Way, the ghost eater pointed out, as if that explained everything. To
him, perhaps it did. Maybe a Way wasn t something hard, something you had to work at
for years like learning the saber. Maybe it just was.
 Should we go down to the barn? Gwendith asked cautiously.  It will be warmer
there.
 Let the ghost eater stand watch outside, Stands-in-Smoke said, rising to her
feet as if her legs ached.  It s not as if he can feel the cold.
The ghost eater glanced away.  I can feel it, he said softly, more to himself than
to her.
Since they seemed to be breaking camp, Gwendith reached for the canteen and
started to upend it over the fire. The ghost eater grabbed her arm with a startled yelp,
directing the water onto the ground instead of the flames.
 What are you doing? Don t we have enough troubles as it is? he demanded,
aghast.
 I was putting out the fire.
He looked at her in incomprehension. Stands-in-Smoke snorted.  She s an
Outlander what does she know about anything?
 I at least know how to put out a fire, Gwendith snapped, stung.
A look of understanding passed over the ghost eater s face, followed by an
expression of sudden worry.  Your people came from somewhere else& you never
moved in the world like we did. Until now, anyway. You really don t know?
 Don t know what?
He took the canteen from her hand and passed it back to No Tongue.  Fire and
water are opposites. By pouring water on the fire, you offend it. Fire will punish you with
disease and bad luck.
Gwendith arched an eyebrow. It was one thing to personify a deer into an animal
spirit at least it was animate. This superstition seemed a little silly.  Fire isn t a person.
It doesn t feel, or get mad. It s just a thing. I know your beliefs seem very real to you,
but 
 Don t be a fool, Enemy woman, the ghost eater said, all his friendly warmth
gone to ice in an instant.  Stands-in-Smoke was right you and your kind know nothing.
But you had better learn, for your own sakes. I am the ghost eater, the bhargha, the
Child of the Mountain. My heart doesn t beat, and wounds don t kill me. I d think that
even you would accept that I know things and would listen when I try to keep you from
bringing disaster down on your own head!
He drew himself up, glaring at her darkly. The skull tattoo turned his face into a
mask, frightening and strange. Suddenly, he barely even seemed human.
 A-All right. I m sorry.
 Now. He snatched the water skin from No Tongue, waving it in her face.  No
water! Not unless you re putting out the fire during a funeral. Use earth.
He scooped handfuls of dirt onto the flames, smothering them. She caught a
snatch of words in his own tongue. Talking to the fire as he extinguished it?
No Tongue started away, towards the old barn, and Gwendith followed him
hurriedly, grateful to get away from the ghost eater s dark eyes. She felt as if she had
inadvertently drawn too close to something that would have been better left alone.
 Don t let him bluff you, Stands-in-Smoke said suddenly, appearing from the
dark to march along beside Gwendith.  He acts like he knows so much, but he s just an
ignorant savage. We Proud Ones we are among the civilized people. Long before your
kind came, we built towns and temples, raised crops. Those Skull People were nothing
but a bunch of barbarians, wandering around everywhere, following the game. Listen to
me he says he knows things because he s a ghost eater, but that isn t so. He doesn t
have any memories he didn t get from the body he wears. He s powerful, but he doesn t
have any special knowledge. She paused, frowning slightly.  I don t know if I believe in
all this talk of spirits, she admitted slowly.  But even so, listen to him about the fire.
There are things in this world that can hurt you, and hurt you badly, if you anger them.
Humans aren t the only ones who have Ways.
 He frightens me, sometimes, Gwendith said, glancing back over her shoulder to
where the ghost eater walked.  But sometimes he doesn t. I mean, sometimes he
seems so normal. And nice.
Stands-in-Smoke laughed dryly.  Nice? Normal? He eats souls, destroys them so
that they never go on to the Darkening Land. He s about as nice as a cougar on the
hunt. Don t forget that, and you ll live a lot longer.
***
The ghost eater was standing watch outside when Stands-in-Smoke emerged
from the barn and came towards him. The wind snatched at her patchwork skirt, and the
moon shadowed her work-hardened features. The unpleasant odor of the Rhylachans
captive animals clung to her, and he had to fight not to impolitely wrinkle his nose.
 The others are snatching some sleep before this Johann gets here, she said.
 You should join them. Exhaustion was starting to eat at the edges of his mind,
bearing him down with a weariness beyond the physical. The few moments of sleep he
had caught the day before hadn t been enough to renew him.  I would, if I could.
 You looked worried when Gwendith made the mistake about the fire. And not
just because you thought we might be in danger from it.
He took a deep breath, then let it out a habit he seemed unable to break.
Perhaps, when he had been dead longer, he would stop trying to breathe, to sigh, and
time would pare away all the little human movements and gestures, until he seemed
more like something born out of the rocks.  You may get your revenge against the
Rhylachans, Stands-in-Smoke. Sooner than you think.
 How do you mean?
 Gwendith has a Way. And she isn t the only one, of that I feel certain. The
Rhylachans came from another world, and for more winters than I can count 
 Three-hundred.
He shot her an angry glare and was rewarded by a smug smile.  As I was saying,
they ve been here for a long time. But they never moved in the world the way we do.
Maybe the world didn t know what to make of them. For whatever reason, our Ways
could touch them, but those of animals and plants, or of things like fire, couldn t.
 But the Rhylachans are starting to change now, at last. And if they are becoming
of this world, then they re subject to this world s rules. Things other than mere human
Ways will be able to touch them now. Putting out fire the right way, knowing the right
chants to pacify deer ghosts, understanding how to live and move with the other things
of this world they will have to deal with all that. Animals and spirits will be able to
punish them for offenses, the way they couldn t before. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]