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Outer Haebrid and the Infinity Mountain range, but they come north in spring to eat the battlefield roses growing on the ground, get intoxicated by them, and hallucinate and talk to themselves about incomprehensible concepts. Arrowsmith grinned. Hippie dragons. Cute. So& if they are harmless why warn me about them? Her expression became serious. Because a few of them have been known to be creatures of pure, embodied evil. Not many. But a few. Don't make your fires too big." "And Dragonhawks...?" "Eat dragons. If you see something that looks like a little black dragon with red-edged wings, do not bother it." "I'll try to remember that," he muttered as he finished stuffing the scroll into his bag. "And while you are in Two-Fifty-Mile-House," interrupted Monshikka, "stay out of the End of the Road Tavern. Go to the Welcome Inn." "The Welcome Inn?!" yelled Infamous. "Don't go there unless your idea of a wild time is listening to old people harden. Go to the Stagger Inn." "The Stagger Inn is a thieves' den," snapped Monshikka. "I know, all of my friends are there." "And when you get to White Palace, go to the Red Rooster, at least once!" Misty enthused from somewhere in the madness. "It's a whore house!" wailed Monshikka. "I know, but the food, wine, and entertainment is an experience," said Misty. "Trust me." "And stay out of Kirianna," said Blackbird. "It's full of people like Monshikka." Monshikka glared at the little man. "Indeed," he said. Wess placed a kindly hand on Arrowsmith's shoulder and smiled at him. "Why don't you just ignore the lot of us and enjoy yourself," he said quietly. Arrowsmith grinned back at him, then mounted the great red and gold motorcycle. "I'll do that." he said, and turned his attention towards Infamous. He put his arms around him as he drew closer, resting his head against his chest. They held each other tightly, then Infamous lowered his head to kiss him. "I'll be home soon," said Arrowsmith. "You have no choice," said Infamous. "I'm the Master Thief. I'll find you no matter where you go." "Good," said Arrowsmith. "So if I get hopelessly lost, you can come get me." Infamous laughed, then kissed him again before stepping away from the bike. They held each other's gaze for a moment, then Arrowsmith rose up to kick the engine into life. The explosive noise tore through the clear morning air, causing chickens to scatter and birds to take flight. Slowly he turned the bike towards the road, then started it forward, picking up speed and disappearing from view. *** For a long time they could hear the motorcycle going down the mountain road. The group of seven people seemed to change as Arrowsmith moved further away: to gather about themselves a feeling of great age and strength. It was as though a mist had blown away a veil, and they were revealed in their entirety. He s taking quite a long time to Recall, said Misty. Nothing odd about that, said Blackbird. Still, I find it fascinating he has such an urge to travel. Fascinating and worrying. He may not know who he is yet, but he is reacting to the unseen forces that guide him. This speaks to me of a coming event of some magnitude. Then are we to leave the cabin? asked the Moonhound. Not yet. It is not safe for us to be out. Unless the Palace has arisen, we stay. *** Arrowsmith reached the foot of the mountain after two hours of cautious going. He paused to study the flat surface of the smooth road before him. It snaked off into the distance, as far as the eye could see. Dargothians, it seemed, were no slouches at road-making. Arrowsmith put on his shades and revved Harley's engine, then he clamped down on the gas and let out a scream of pure joy. He and Harley were on the road again. For hours, Arrowsmith saw no other human being, no sign of civilization. To his left was the mighty wall of the Palaklais Mountains, to his right and before him there was nothing but flowering plain. All around there were living creatures, most of which Arrowsmith couldn't name on a bet. He saw a small herd of the large, white Aushai. But apart from them, he didn't recognize anything. He rode through a huge cloud of some sort of tiny critters with big round eyes, transparent fairy wings, and little elephant noses. Whatever they were, they were nauseatingly cute. He saw some wild horses as he drove along the road. There were about twelve of them, all blacker than night. They fled the noise of Harley s engine, tails held high, though the large stallion kept one eye over his shoulder, ears flattened, as though concerned the noisy thing may come after his herd. The whole land was populated by flapping, skittering, leaping beasts. Arrowsmith could not remember seeing so many animals in one place before. He got a better look at some of the local wildlife when he stopped for lunch. He was suddenly descended upon by pretty, shiny green- gold lizards that immediately tried to steal everything he had. The worst part was, when he finally got everything out of reach of their tiny paws, they stood around and stared at him accusingly. Finally he broke down and gave them a little food. This got rid of the lizards for a few moments, then suddenly the grass was alive with them, and Arrowsmith had no choice but to leave. He carefully pushed the motorcycle onto the road, trying not to run over any lizards. He drove about another mile, then stopped to finish his lunch. There were green lizards here, too, but this time he knew better than to feed them. He checked the fuel level in the motorcycle, and was a little surprised to find the tank was still full. That was a little odd; there should have been some drop by now, but Harley clearly wasn t hungry. Arrowsmith replaced the gas cap, then perched on the back of his bike to finish eating, ignoring the little green faces that watched him brightly. His map said he should reach Two-Fifty-Mile-House by nightfall. He would have accomplished in just over seven hours what would have been a twelve-day ride on horseback. He had been driving for three hours already. When he looked over his shoulder towards the mountain where he had lived for the last few months, he saw nothing but a flat expanse of new grass and flowers. Suddenly he missed Infamous terribly. He almost turned the motorcycle around then and there. 'Sure, why not?' he thought. 'What am I doing? I could be back in a few hours, making love with him on those hilariously expensive sheets of his. So, why am I sitting in the middle of the road [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |