"Julia Gray - Guardian 04 - The Red Glacier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

such an attempt. You'd soon be paralyzed by the cold, and dead after a very
short time. It would be suicide.'
'There must be some way,' Terrel pleaded.
'We could probably get the skiff close enough to the shore, if we time it
right,' the captain admitted, 'but it's not going to happen. It's too risky.'
'But I'm willing to take that risk.'
'I meant for my crewmen,' Ostan stated flatly. 'Someone would have to row you
ashore and bring the boat back. Give me one good reason why I should
jeopardize any of my men.'
Terrel was silent, racking his brains for a way to convince the captain
without sounding like a complete lunatic.
'Besides,' the seaman added. 'Supposing we did get you on to the rocks somehow
and you were able to climb the cliffs. You'd still probably get yourself
killed inside an hour.'
'Why?'
Ostan stared at him, obviously wondering whether the strange young man could
possibly be as naive as he appeared.
'You really don't know anything about Myvatan, do you?' he said eventually.
'I know there's a war there, but—'
'So you know you'd be walking into a forbidden zone?'
At this Terrel's face lit up with renewed excitement, which he knew would make
Ostan doubt his sanity even more.
'That's where I have to go!' he exclaimed.
'Are you crazy} Both sides would kill you in an instant if they found you
there.'
'Why?'
'Because you're an outsider and it's a forbidden zone,' Ostan replied with
heavy emphasis, then paused. 'Unless . . .'
'Unless what?' Terrel asked hopefully.
'Unless you've been lying to us all along.'
'What do you mean?' The healer felt genuinely uneasy now. Which of his
half-truths was Ostan referring to?
'Which quarter do you follow?' the captain demanded.
'I don't know what you mean.'
'Which moon, then?'
Terrel shook his head in bewilderment.
'Forget it!' Ostan snapped. 'I'm not taking you to Whale Ness. You're coming
with us to Port Akranes — and that's final.'
Terrel's bitter disappointment could not be dispelled even by the enchanting
sight of a school of dolphins swimming alongside the Skua, effortlessly
matching her pace and occasionally leaping from the water as though they were
playing. He wished Alyssa would return - and bring the ghosts with her — so
that they could discuss the situation properly, but he knew he was on his own,
at least until he made landfall. And by then it might be too late.
'Don't take it too hard,' Kahl advised.
Terrel was sitting, huddled in several layers of clothing, near the bows of
the ship. He had been deep in thought and the sailor's approach had taken him
by surprise.
'Do you make a habit of sneaking up on people?' he asked, glancing around.
'I could've been wearing hobnail boots and singing at the top of my voice and