Rift in the Sky полностью

Like Vyna. A lash of scorn. That’s good enough for your daughter?

She flinched. The grove in front of her, across the clearing, was stunted and unhealthy. Vyna was a worse blight on the world. Then what? Aryl demanded angrily. What would you have me do, Naryn? Give up, like the Tikitik?

Use the strength around us. For us.

What do you mean?

You saw what the Strangers did to each other. They could easily destroy Tikitna. They may have killed Oud already. As Aryl hesitated, stunned, Naryn went on. Her Power reinforced their link now. Do you want to live in fear? Enris was right and I hadn’t seen it. These would be formidable partners. Last truenight, I learned the Strangers’ language. An image formed of a device Aryl had seen before: the machine Marcus had claimed taught him Om’ray words as he slept.

We learned, a caustic mindvoice intruded. Anaj had attached herself to their thread. Not that I had a choice, you understand.

Naryn pushed her aside. I can talk to them now. Any of them. Ask for their help.

Though the other couldn’t see it, Aryl shook her head violently; her hair lashed her shoulders. It won’t work. Marcus had told her the Trade Pact wouldn’t let the Triads interfere; he wore his costume and pretended to be Om’ray, rather than draw attention. As for those who’d attacked the Triad sites? The Strangers won’t help us.

They would for the ability to travel through the M’hir.

Tuana were traders.

She hadn’t realized, until now, that they could make anything a commodity.

No, Naryn.

Spread their problems across countless worlds and races. What had Marcus called it?

War.

Aryl . . .

NO! Don’t mention this to anyone again. Either of you.

Aryl severed their connection so violently, the M’hir slapped back at her as if she’d tossed a mountain into the ocean. Stung, she fought to see reality, to hold her sense of self. Finally, the waves ended and released her. She hoped Naryn and Anaj hadn’t felt that. Not all of it.

Enough, Aryl thought grimly, to help them understand.

The Oud, wanting her help against the Tikitik. The Tikitik, against the Oud. Now Naryn, proposing Om’ray and the Strangers against both.

Never, Aryl vowed, while she lived.

“Anything I should know?” Haxel asked in a quiet voice.

Checking her shields, Aryl made herself relax as she turned. “We’re in trouble, and the Adepts argue about my age.”

The First Scout chuckled. “They don’t know you.” Her smile faded. “What does that mean?” She pointed at Aryl’s hand.

Which still held the geoscanner. Startled, Aryl raised the device. A blue light pulsed beneath its clear dome. “Something new,” she admitted.

Haxel stiffened. “Dangerous?”

The blue pulse flickered faster and faster.

“Not the Oud.” She could think of only one thing to try. Aryl lifted the device near her mouth. “Marcus? Are you there?”

A loud burst of jumbled sounds answered, none understandable. The voice—was it a voice?—was shrill, higher than any she’d heard. Shrill and threatening.

Aryl turned off the ’scanner, shoved it in its pocket, and met Haxel’s pale eyes. “Not a friend,” the First Scout decided. “Inside.”

The hole was, if anything, darker and scarier than ever. Aryl avoided looking at it as Haxel began to speak. “Syb, you and—” The rest was drowned out by a deep rumble, rushing toward them.

Closer . . . closer. On them!

The building shook.

Mud loosened around the hole, sliding down but not filling it.

Enris!!!

We’re all right. Are you?

Last time it had been Naryn, digging out the riverbed.

This? Was the mountain shaking? Should they ’port to safety? Before she could do more than consider it, the sound and vibration passed overhead and diminished.

It’s leaving, she sent, astonished.

“Find it!” Haxel ordered. “Stay out of sight!”

Be careful! This from her Chosen, with a certain irony.

The rumble went behind the buildings, to where the Oud toiled to disturb what some Tikitik called the “Makers’ Rest.” Om’ray didn’t go there, not anymore. Aryl followed the sound, running close to one wall. She stopped before breaking into the open, paused to sense Haxel and the rest nearby in the grove.

They would let her take the lead; she was their Speaker, and there were no other Om’ray here. What might be here, Aryl thought with an odd catch in her breath, none of them could guess.