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Allusladder. Both other longboats, and all of the
WindTreasure
 s crew, were already gone.
By the time Ian cast them off from the
Wind Treasure, Hasmal lay on the bottom of the boat in front of the thwarts,
theMirror of Souls beside him. Ry s lieutenants had alreadyunshipped the long,
two-man oars  the sweeps  andfitted them into the oarlocks. Ry, who had
clambered down the Allusladder before him, had taken the seat at the tiller;
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he glanced upat Ian as he dropped into the boat, then back at the sky.
Ian was the only sailor in the bunch, and the others inexperience showed.
There were eight of them in a longboat thatcould have accommodated twenty; it
had thwarts and sweeps fortwelve 
three sweeps on each side  and the escapees hadreadied all of the sweeps and
sat facing the front of the boat. Theempty sweep waited for him.
Ian snapped,  Face the rear, not the front  you canput your back into your
stroke that way. The sweeps were made to bepulled by two  you ll have
Brethwan s own timepulling one alone, much less trying to do it facing
forward. His eyes locked with Ry s.  You re going to take thelast sweep. I ll
take the tiller.
Ry said,  I m already here, and I understand how atiller works.
 I ll take the tiller because I know theseislands, Ian said.  I know where to
hide in them, andwhere to get help and find friends. I sailed along these
waters allthose years that you were conniving in your little rat hole in
ourfather s House.
Ry held his position for a moment and Ian began to think thatthey were going
to have to fight each other right there. Then Rynodded and took a seat at the
sweep.
Ian gripped the tiller with both hands and said, You ll row on my count  
Kait, at the middle port sweep, said,  Hasmal had a spellthat might keep us
unnoticed. Not that he ll be able to doanything for us now . . . in his
condition. Hasmal s eyes had opened, and his head lolled from side toside, but
he still showed no sign that he understood anything thatwas happening around
him.
 I can t do anything that will make usdisappear, Ry said.  I can only create
an energy wall toshield us from the magic they throw . . . and Idon t know who
we d ask to take the rewhah.
Wespread it out among everyone on the ship before.
Ian, like most Iberans, had spent his life thinking that magicwas dead  a
banished perversion of the past. He didn tknow what rewhah was, and he didn t
want to know.
Kait said,  That s why we all feel so sick,then, and glared at Ry s back
again, and Ian snausea reminded him that it was not yet gone. So rewhah
wassomething that made people sick. It figured.
Kait continued,  I was going to say, I know his spell,though not well. If
you ll give me a moment, I ll do whatI can to cast it for us, though I can t
promise it willwork.
Ian considered only for an instant.  We won t reachcover before the airibles
have us in sight. As we stand now,we ll only survive if they pursue the other
two longboatsbefore us. If you can do something to change our chances, doit.
Ry twisted to look over his shoulder. He said,  Idon t know farhullen, but if
you ll tell me how tohelp you, whatever I can do, I will.
 I ll need a peth
 a blood-gift. Kait hurried to Hasmal s side, took his pouch from him,
andfrom it extracted a wooden bowl with its interior surface plated insilver.
 You can only give what is yours to give, shesaid, working her way back to
her oar.  Hasmal told me theWolves always draw their magic from the lives of
the people andthings around them.
Ry nodded.  That s the essence of magic. If we drewonly from ourselves, we d
depleteourselves  
He stopped at the vehement shake of Kait s head.  Ifyou do that, we will have
to fight the rewhah, and we mightall die anyway.
Farhullen has no backlash  part of thereason that you can t see it, I suspect
 but we llavoid the rewhah only if you do as I tell you. Give me onlywhat is
yours to give.
Your blood, your will, your willing life-force. Nothing more. If any of your
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men knowhow to draw energy from themselves, I can use that, too. But onlywhat
belongs to you, and only what you give freely.
Ian saw every other head on the boat nod in understanding. Howcould he be the
only person aboard the boat who was ignorant ofthis forbidden spellcasting she
spoke of? It was as if he was theonly one present who knew one vast sea, and
the only one who knewnothing of another.
Kait had drawn her ornate Galweigh dagger. She sliced the sideof one of her
fingers lightly, and let three drops of her bloodfall into the bowl. She
whispered something, and Ry, turned aroundon his thwart, watched her intently.
When she finished, he drew hisown dagger. She passed him the bowl and he
followed her lead. Eachof Ry s men cut a finger and contributed to the little
puddleof blood in the bowl, and to the whispered words. Trev, the last tohold
the bowl, nodded toward Ian, but Kait said,  No. Ian seesonly the outward form
of what we ve done. If he gave, he wouldnot know what he gave, or how to limit
his gift. Pass the bowl backto me.
Ian thought briefly of protesting, of insisting that he couldgive his blood,
too. He didn t want to be seen as a coward,even if he hated the idea of magic.
But she was right; he dseen them drip their blood into a bowl, but he had the
feelingthey d done much more than that just beneath the surface ofperception.
He couldn t duplicate what they did, so hecouldn t offer them any help. He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]