Amanda Steiger Eloria's Tear (pdf)

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human-looking enough, aside from their color.
On impulse, she took his hand in both of hers, and Zander froze. She stared at his
palm and trailed one finger lightly over his lifeline. The skin was warm and leather-hard.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm just looking at your hands. She touched the tip of one claw. Don t these ever
get in the way?"
I can retract them when I need to.
She studied the marble-smooth tips of his fingers. "You don't have any fingerprints."
He pulled his hand back. A dusky, blue flush crept into his cheeks, and she had to
hide a smile. For someone so tough, he blushed an awful lot. "I'm not a specimen," he
muttered.
"Sorry. I'm just curious." She watched him as he ate. He kept his eyes averted.
Once they finished eating, he stood and kicked dust over the campfire's remains.
"Are you ready?"
"Almost." She strapped on the pack and winced. Her shoulders were still sore. She
rubbed one.
"Let me carry that if you can't handle it," he said.
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? I don't want you overexerting yourself. If you pass out from
exhaustion, I'll have to carry you and the pack."
Her back stiffened, and she lifted her chin. "I may not be the athletic type, but I'm not
so useless that I can't carry my own stuff."
"All right. Just let me know if you start getting tired."
Dead leaves crunched underfoot as they walked. She found a patch of safrel, pulled
off a handful of the dark red leaves and popped one in her mouth. After a few minutes of
chewing, she felt the plant's effects spread through her body, quenching the fire in her
muscles like cool water. She knew it wouldn't last long, but it was better than nothing.
Oh, why hadn't she thought to bring some real pain-relief potion with her? Or some Heal-
Fast? Or better yet, a horse. Why not wings, while you're dreaming? she thought and
sighed.
She picked a leaf out of her hair and glanced at Zander. "So you really don't
remember anything of your life before& " She trailed off, searching for a polite way to
say it. "Before your change?"
He shook his head. "Nothing specific, anyway. I seem to remember I lived in a city,
and spent a lot of time running away and hiding. But it's like remembering a dream."
Wendy thought of the countless street urchins in Garna thin, ragged, dirty boys and
girls with sharp, cunning faces. They lived off what they could steal from carts or pick
out of garbage bins, slept in doorways or abandoned buildings. "Once you become human
again, what do you think you'll do?"
"Do?"
"You must have some idea. What do you imagine yourself doing after you use
Eloria's Tear on yourself?"
"I don't know," he said. "I suppose I'll keep doing what I'm doing now."
"And what's that?"
"I'm a mercenary. I travel from place to place, offering my services as a sword-for-
hire."
"Don't you want to settle down somewhere? Start a family, or a business?"
"Somehow, I can't see myself settling down."
"But don't you get lonely?"
"I've always been alone," he said. "I'm used to it."
As the sun reached its zenith, she glimpsed a bright sparkle through the trees.
Shielding her eyes with one hand, she squinted against the sunlight. "Is that water
ahead?"
Zander nodded. "The Whisperdeep River."
"That's right. I remember seeing it on the maps. We won't have to cross it, will we?"
"No. It curves toward us from the west and runs parallel to our course." He pushed a
branch aside. "There it is."
The Whisperdeep was wide and sluggish, a band of smooth water, dark as tea, the
banks overgrown with thick grass and cattails. The water would have appeared
motionless, but for the scattered leaves drifting gently along its surface.
"Water. Thank God. My canteen is getting low." She shook it. "And I could really
use a bath. I haven't had a chance to wash for two days."
"We shouldn't linger here. Bandits and outlaws makes their camps along this river.
The longer we stay, the greater our chance of being attacked."
"I won't take long, but I'm not going to pass up this chance. I can't stand being dirty
another moment. My skin is crawling."
He sighed. "Very well. We'll refill the canteens first, but we'll need to boil the water.
Do you have a cooking pot?"
She shook her head. "I know an easier way." She crouched by the riverbank and
filled her canteen, then closed her eyes and tapped into her Gift. It spread through the
water, destroying the microscopic life-forms within. Her eyes opened. "There. It should
be fine now."
He furrowed his brow. "What did you do?"
"It's a water-purification spell. I use it sometimes for potions, since a lot of recipes
call for purified water. The microbes and chemicals can interfere with some magical
ingredients."
"Are you sure it worked?"
She took a swig. "Yup. Taste it." She held the canteen out to him.
He took a cautious sip. "It does taste clean."
"See? Here, I'll do yours too. Hand me your canteen." She filled it with river-water [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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