"Ann Durand - Flight of the Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Durand Ann)

"Maybe it would be easier if…" he mumbled.

"I should go," Adrella interrupted.

"Yes," he said, and looked at her. "Go north, Adrella. Katera is not in the southern territories, or she
would have heard the horn and come home. Our horn does not reach the northern region of the Tikon
Forest." Papa turned to Chilika, Adrella's hoshdel, and stuffed the family horn into a saddlebag draped
over the animal's back. "She must be in the north, and if you leave now you'll be able to reach Kiddik
Meadow in three and a half hours. You can blow the horn in the place where the woods lead into the
meadow. The blast should reach all the territory leading up to the Shirkas. If Katera is anywhere around
there, she will hear it."

Papa cinched up the saddlebag and turned to Adrella. She nodded sadly, hearing his unspoken words. If
Katera is anywhere at all, if she is still alive…that's what you mean, isn't it?

They had spent the last two days sounding the horn with the unique series of blasts devised to summon
members of her family from a distance-one long toot, three short, and another long. First Papa, then
Mama had blown the instrument for hours. They would not give it to Adrella, who was still weak after
losing her baby. Though Askinadon had awarded her one extra day to recover, she had not regained her
full strength.

Katera had not responded to the summons, which could only mean that she was either out of range, lost,
or…Adrella did not want to dwell on other possibilities. Katera was out there, and Adrella was going to
find her. She had mixed feelings about luring her sister with the horn. She wanted to see Katera and
know that she was all right, but it felt like a betrayal. She'd never before displayed disloyalty to any
Parallonian, let alone her sister.

She had explained to Mama and Papa that Askinadon held Rorken hostage, and while they had
proffered their understanding and support, the deception she must instigate to find her sister haunted her.
Would Katera appreciate her fierce desire, her need, to protect her child as well as Mama and Papa?
Would she be willing to aid her nephew, to keep him from peril? Mama had told Adrella that she had no
choice-she could not endanger Rorken. Then, naively, she had added that she and Katera would be
together on the mountain-and wasn't that a good thing?

"You can watch each other's children grow up," Mama had said, with a wan smile. "Won't that be nice?"

Adrella did not tell her mother about the long hours of hard labor forced on the wives. She did not tell her
about the bullying Kastaks, or mention the dreadful hours in Askinadon's bed. Nor did she tell about the
omnipresent Voice that badgered them much more than anyone in the village could imagine. She did not
describe the horrid corral…oh. That awful pole inside the dirty pen of the rocsadons. No, there was no
point in inflating the acute anxiety that her parents were already feeling.

Last night, Askinadon had given the order to leave in the morning and look for Katera. You must find
your sister quickly and bring her to me, he commanded. You have two days to accomplish this. For
the sake of your son, do not fail in this mission.

Adrella accepted the reins from Papa and allowed him to hoist her into the saddle that he'd provided.
She settled into the comfortable seat and looked at her parents for what might be, she realized with a
heavy heart, the last time.