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.Two more moved purposefully on Tyron, and two started her way.She backed slowly, her hands plunging into her apron pockets, to find nothing.Then she remembered having used the last of the pepper on the warries.Shestumbled over a rock and fell to the ground.Raising his hands, Tyron froze, then shut his eyes in intense concentration. Aspell& a spell&  he muttered.Wren yelped,  Call the rest of them, and watched with a fierce surge of pride asTyron caught her idea and his fingers wove rapidly.Off to one side shadowy figuresmoved, and Ty-ron s two men turned toward the illusory foes.A moment later sodid one of Connor s, but he turned back and waved angrily, shouting at his allies.As Wren s two converged grimly on her, she got to her knees.When one manbent to pick her up, her fists swung upward and released handfuls of dirt straight attheir faces.The nearer one jerked away, cursing.Wren rolled in the other direction.Herfingers closed around a good-sized pebble, which she threw at the second man, whodid not seem to be at all bothered by the dirt.The pebble struck his helm with athunk, but he paid no attention. Tyron  Wren yelped, trying to dodge grasping hands.She was hampered byher skirts. Ahh, Connor gasped, as his sword was twisted violently from his grasp.Hestumbled and landed in the dust, and then, just before reaching fingers could grabhim, something astonishing happened.The six soldiers vanished, and on the groundsix tiny blue lizards writhed crazily. Was that you? Wren gaped at Tyron in admiration. No, Tyron said flatly. I couldn t do anything.No real magic, remember? Andtheir leader saw through my illusion immediately. His head jerked up. Connor? Ifthat was you, I take back everything I ve said about your magic.Connor just shook his head, trying to recover his breath. I wish, he gasped out.Laughing a little, he added,  The only time I ever succeeded in such a spell& I wastrying to do something entirely different. Then it s very strange, Tyron said. Let s get away from them.Wren and the boys backed away from the scurrying lizards, and Connor pickedup his sword, resheathing it.Tyron looked up, scanning the barren hills either side ofthem. Whoever did that doesn t want to be known, he said. Let s put some distancebetween us and this place. Then, with a concerned glance at Connor,  Are you allright?Connor s pleasant face was pale, but he nodded firmly. A bit of a blow acrossthe back, that s all.I think my pride smarts more.I suspect they had orders todisarm and secure, or we would have been hash in no time. Some time, anyway, Tyron emended.He added wryly,  That s what you saidafter our tangle with those baddiepeepers in the forest.Only you would feeldiscouraged at not defeating grown men!Connor shrugged, smiling slightly.Then he turned to Wren. The dirt was fastthinking, like the pepper. You get used to fast thinking when you live in a village with a lot of rowdy boys.The dirt gives you a chance to run and hide, if you re lucky.But there s not mucharound here to hide behind. Tyron looked up at the barren hills again. Weird, hesaid. Someone did that spell.And another thing&  He looked perplexed now. Just before they attacked, one of them said,  Here s a girl.Grab  em. Like theywere looking for a girl. Arglebargle. Wren winced. Maybe they were.And if they were, maybe it wasmy fault.As the others listened in silence, she told them about the scrying contact she hadmade with Tess and the third entity that she d sensed, and why she had decided notto mention it when they woke.Tyron shook his head slowly as Wren talked. You probably caught her asleep.Dreaming.That would explain those images of your Three Groves before she heardyou. He frowned. But why did you do it? I thought we were agreed you wouldn tbecause it was too dangerous.I told you Andreus is crafty with that kind of thing. We weren t agreed, Wren said. I didn t agree to anything.It s just that youtold me not to, and that was supposed to be that. As she spoke, she soundedmerely pettish in her own ears.Face hot, she added,  I didn t think you meantdanger to us all [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]