"Tanya Huff - Death Rites" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

It took three dives before Vree felt the opening in the rock and then one more to fill her lungs and go
through it. She'd counted to 70 and had almost decided to go back, when the rock opened up above her.
Another thirty count and she surfaced. Her ringers brushed dressed stone.

"About time," Bannon muttered when she returned. "Too much slaughtering water down here for us not

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to end up in a well."

"Commander Jolan has to know thaf's how the others came into the fortress, but she can't cut off her
water supply." Running on the spot, Vree was thinking out loud as she warmed. "She's known from the
moment Ganit missed his target. He died the same night he went in, and it had to have been pretty
obvious he came out of water. Visolela had to know she was climbing into a trap. Orban, too."

Bannon shrugged. "When you know there's a trap, you avoid it."

"True. It's been…" She counted back. "… fifteen days since Orban. Commander Jolan had to know how
many blades Marshal Arnon had with him and that he won't ask one of the other armies for help—he
wouldn't want to look weak. She knows the only thing he can do is settle in for a siege, so she won't be
expecting us. But she won't have totally let down her guard. She won't have someone staring down the
well, but she's not the type to leave an access unguarded."

Marshal Chela had seen they were as well briefed on their target as time allowed.

"So we can get to the lip of the well without trouble, but after that we'll have to be careful?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you just slaughtering say so?"

Vree sighed. "I was thinking out loud."

"You think too much, sister-mine."

Unwrapping their kit, they ate the dried meat and honeyed date bars while strapping on their weapons.
They'd kept leather and steel dry as long as possible, climbing into a trap they'd need them at hand. Their
clothing they rerolled in the waxed linen and strapped it to their backs—wet clothing would leave a trail,
they'd dress once they were safely inside.

Three quarters of the way up the well, Vree stretched out an arm and touched Bannon's cheek. When he
stilled, she signed inside against his skin. He nodded. The well was not only within the fortress wall, but
within the fortress itself.

Just below the rim, they stopped. Listened.

Nothing.