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

"Thank you, Mama…Papa. Someday…"

"Someday we will see you, your sister, and your children, too," Papa said, trying to sound cheerful. He
turned to his wife. "Right, Moreesha?"

Mama smiled, and Adrella nodded, hoping her angst didn't show. Not wishing to prolong the agony any
further, she urged Chilika forward. The animal broke into an eager trot before Adrella reined her to a
brisk walk. She peered back over her shoulder to see Mama leaning into Papa's shoulder as he placed
his arm around her. They looked frightened. Adrella swallowed, waved and turned her attention toward
the path ahead.

She was in no hurry to leave. Not this meadow-this place of happy memories. The meadow was at least
seven miles long, and her parent's hosta was located on the southern end. It would take a couple hours
before she cleared it. She rode for about a mile and neared the Kala River. As Chilika plodded along,
Adrella looked from side to side, greeting her old neighbors as they strolled toward the path to see her
off. From their solemn faces, Adrella knew the rumors generated from her cries of the night before last
had reached their hostas.

The morning air was crisp, and the sun sparkled as it climbed into the sky over Kan Mountain.
Everywhere, as the dawn emerged, villagers arose and assumed the routines that had sustained them for
many generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. She watched an old friend, Mashtun, as he
led the family hoshdels to the feeding troughs. His wife, Likera, was hacking at the ground alongside their
hosta with a horn-shaped tool, a bag of seed by her side. They both stopped to watch her pass.

Further down the path she spied Pantera, the youngest child of Mankin and Rokana, as she prepared a
Shalpaca for shearing, brushing the long, dense hair of the animal with the spiky bristles of the Chipinet
plant. Pantera looked up as she rode by the corral and waved. Adrella waved, struggling to hold back
the tears.

For them, it was a morning like any other; full of the usual chores and animals and gardens. For her, it
was like moving through a sweet dream that was slipping away. Soon, too soon, she would leave the
peace of the village and return to her hellish life with Askinadon and his many unhappy wives. If it weren't
for Rorken…

Chilika was trotting again, so Adrella pulled back on the reins, but this time the hoshdel struggled against
them, thrusting forward and bleating urgently. That was funny. Chilika rarely got nervous, unless…

Alarmed, she looked around and saw that Mashtun's hoshdels had bolted and were rushing the length of
the fence, spinning at the end and charging skittishly back again. As she surveyed the surrounding hostas
and their adjoining corrals, she noticed many of the animals appeared highly agitated. Curious, she tried
to turn Chilka to investigate, but Chilika refused, stubbornly shaking her head. Strange . She only acts
like this if there is a rocsadon around. Her heart quickened as she scanned the horizon.

There. There it was by Kala Lake… Mericful Lupana.

She heard the screaming first, and then the rumble of heavy, maddened feet pummeling the ground, like
an avalanche of boulders tumbling from a hillside. There was no mistaking that sound. A rocsadon was
loose in Parallon. With her heart pounding, Adrella stretched her legs in the stirrups to see better. A
cloud of dust led from Tikon Forest to Kala Lake, and it was advancing rapidly along the lakeside trail.