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

"Where? How should I stick it in?" she asked, gripping the tube in her hand.

The fury under the blanket abruptly ceased. Mikolen's mouth fell open in surprise, then he moved a finger
swiftly to his lips, but it was too late.

"Katera?" Adrella asked. "Is that you?" Mikolen rolled his eyes and grabbed the tube from Katera. In the
next moment, Adrella stiffened under the blanket. "Yes, yes, Master. It is Katera. I heard her."

Before she had a chance to speak again, Mikolen stabbed the long, silver point through the blanket and
into Adrella's thigh. Within seconds, her body fell limp. Mikolen untangled the blanket and lifted it away
from her body. Katera gazed at the sister she had not seen for two long years, the sister she had
presumed dead, who now lay unconscious on the ground. She looked peaceful, and Katera's Lan Ma
Ke flushed warmly once again. She bent over Adrella's body and kissed her on the cheek. Mikolen rose
and fished the Insertech from his saddlebag.

"I have to do this now," he said, gently.

She sat up and leaned back, allowing Mikolen to cradle Adrella's head. With the InserTech, he made a
swift incision and revealed a small object that glinted in the sun. Deftly, Mikolen plucked it from her head
and held up the VisiOrb for Katera to see. Katera clapped her hands and Mikolen smiled. Then he
aimed the Insertech, pressed another icon, and just as swiftly the incision sealed neatly back together.
There was no trace of it.

"Gee," Katera said, fingering the small scab on her forehead, "why couldn't you have used the InserTech
on me?"

Mikolen cast a sidelong glance her way. "Because I did not have the Insertech with me when I found
you."

"Oh," she said, smiling meekly.

"Okay," he said, stuffing the Insertech back into his saddlebag and Adrella's Orb into his pocket. "Let's
go. Askinadon has surely sent a horde of beasts in our direction, and we do not have much time."

Katera helped him slide Adrella's body, face down, over the withers of Mikolen's hoshdel. He sprang
into the saddle behind her and spurred his hoshdel toward the cover of Tikon Forest with Katera not far
behind, leading Adrella's riderless hoshdel by the reins. Somewhere, off in the distance, the ear-piercing
shrieks from a flock of takataks punctured the quiet morning air.

Chapter Eleven
They rode furiously through Tikon Forest, opting for the longer route around Kiddik Meadow in order to
stay under cover. The dark-bodied takataks glided over the openings in the tall trees on their way to
Tikesh Fields, where the VisiOrb had secured Adrella's last position.

Thankful there were no rocsadons on their trail, Mike breathed a sigh of relief. He felt confident they
could elude the takataks, at least initially given the animals' negligible sense of smell, but they would still
need to hurry. Eventually, the large birds would turn their sinister attention to the forest and use their keen
sense of sight and sound to detect movement within. When they sensed something, the entire flock would
descend into the nearest clearing, one by one, and take off running in frenzied, single-minded pursuit. The
towering legs of a takatak could easily outpace a hoshdel. Still, Mike and the women stood a good