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

shared the saddle with her. The words returned: Ne Kamana Ya. I could love you. Her Lan Ma Ke
rumbled in her chest, and she remembered that it sometimes delivered its gifts inside dreams. Could this
be one of those times? She was still locked into his eyes when the sound of a horn blared again, jarring
them both. One short, two long, one short…

"My family…"

"Let's go," Mikolen urged, swiping the second saddle from the bar and swinging it onto his hoshdel.

He secured the saddle and walked to the exit, shoving aside the brush that hid the opening to the cave.
They led the hoshdels into the sunlight. Katera held both reins as Mikolen replaced the brush, working
the branches so that they reached over the cave mouth entirely. There was nothing left to do but wait for
the next horn blast. They stood, stroking the hoshdels, who were blinking lazily in the warm sun. They
didn't have to wait long. Another series of blasts resounded from the nearest ridge. Katera jumped.

"That's close," she cried, thrusting her foot into the stirrup and swinging up into the saddle. "It came from
over there."

She pointed to the ridge, but Mikolen had already mounted and was riding toward it. She

gave her hoshdel a kick and it lunged ahead, falling into step behind Mikolen's hoshdel. They rode swiftly
into the trees and climbed the hill. The forest felt cool as the hoshdels pressed forward, crunching twigs
and leaves beneath their hooves. Mikolen and Katera crested the ridge and reined in the hoshdels,
peering into Kiddik Meadow below them.

It stretched six miles from end to end. Toward the west, Hapal Lake gleamed in the sun, a half mile
away. At first, only the lime greens of the meadow grasses dotted with yellow wildflowers greeted them.
A herd of kiddiks grazed near the lake. A sudden breeze drifted up from the meadow, presenting the
sweet scent of the blossoms. The hoshdels answered with soft lows. Katera sighed.

The screech of the horn startled them both as it pierced the air from close range. Katera whipped her
head to the right. She spotted Adrella at the bottom of the hill, just five hundred yards away. Katera
gasped in surprise.

"It's Adrella. She's alive!" Impulsively, she kicked her hoshdel to spur her down the hill, but Mikolen's
hand streaked to her reins. He caught them and pulled her hoshdel back. "What?"

"Katera, wait….think. She's got a VisiOrb in her head. Askinadon may be listening." He backed away
from the ridge, pulling Katera's hoshdel with him. He reduced his voice to a whisper. "He'll find out that
you and I are here. He'll tap into Adrella's thoughts…then, in a very short period of time, we'll have all
kinds of company."

Katera stared at Mikolen as she imagined Kastaks, takataks, and even rocsadons swarming into their
midst. She turned to look back at Adrella, who was raising the horn to her lips again. The blasts punched
into the quiet air, sounding both harsh and forlorn. Then she lowered the horn, lifted her chin, and called
out Katera's name. Her cry held the same desperation as the horn, only more muted.

A cold spot opened up inside Katera's chest, as if an icicle had formed there. She clutched at it. Why did
her Lan Ma Ke freeze up this way? She shivered as the chilly feeling spread throughout her upper body.
Mikolen looked at her, but she could only shake her head. How would she explain it? She did not