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

forest after her.

"She's heading for Tikesh Fields," Katera observed, as they kicked the hoshdels into a trot. "She's
searching for me in the northern territories, which means she's tried calling me in the south."

Clearly, Adrella had seen their parents. It explained how she had gotten the horn. Katera pictured her
with their parents as they blew the horn outside their hosta in Kala Meadow. She wondered how long
they had been looking for her.

They followed Adrella at a safe distance, stopping whenever she did, keeping the forest behind her as
quiet as possible. Adrella paused every hundred feet or so to blow the horn, then she'd shoot off again at
a brisk trot. She was working her way swiftly through the forest. Why is she in such a hurry? She's
fighting against time. Why?

At last, Adrella cleared the forest and started into Tikesh Fields. She did not blow the horn again,
however, riding instead to the Parallonian graveyard on south end. What was she doing? Katera knew
that some of their family members were buried there, but this was an odd time for her to visit. Adrella
reined her hoshdel in front of a small marker near the headstone of their grandmother. She bowed her
head. Whose stone was that? Katera didn't remember it. It had to be very new.

In the next moment, a sense of sharp sorrow shot across the meadow from Adrella and walloped Katera
in her solar plexus like a hard ball. She doubled over in pain, staring at Adrella in surprise. She knew then
that Adrella grieved-she knew it as only an identical twin with a shared Lan Ma Ke could know. The
person beneath the stone…it was someone with whom Adrella felt an intimate connection. Oh!
Unbearable loss. But, who was it?

After a minute, Adrella turned her hoshdel away and rode out into the meadow. Katera straightened in
the saddle, rubbing her stomach. After a few hundred feet, Adrella reined in her hoshdel, blew the horn
and waited. Katera looked at Mikolen.

"We are eight miles from the caves," she whispered. "It is far enough. You can sneak up on her while her
back is turned."

Mikolen nodded. "Stay close to me. Once I get her off the hoshdel I may need your help."

They waited until Adrella lifted the horn back to her lips, then charged out of the forest. Mikolen held the
blanket up with one hand and the reins with the other. So shrill was Adrella's horn that she did not hear
them approach. Mikolen managed to toss the blanket over her head from behind as he leaped toward
her, snatching her around her middle, mid-flight. They toppled off her hoshdel and onto to the ground.
Adrella screamed. Katera wanted to call out and reassure her, but thought better of it and bit her tongue.
She hopped off her hoshdel and rushed over to where Mikolen had wrapped his arms and legs around
Adrella, who was struggling like a wild boar under the blanket.

"Here. Take it," he commanded, holding out a tube. "You'll have to give her the shot. I'll hold her down."
Katera grabbed it while Mikolen struggled with Adrella. She stared at the long, white tube in her hand.
"Open it. Hurry!" She lifted the top off the tube to reveal another tube inside with a silver point jutting out
one end. "Stick it in her," he said, huffing against the lurching blanket. "It will dispense the medication."

Katera felt her throat constrict. He wanted her to stick this long, sharp thing into Adrella?