"Holly Lisle - Secret Texts 2 - Vengeance Of Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

named her to herself, and withremembrance of her name came the flood of other memories.
She was Kait.

She had friends who would need her help.

She had a task she had to accomplish.

And trouble was coming.

* * *

Shifted into human form, exhausted, waterlogged,naked, freezing, and with her senses dulled and
slowed, Kaitdragged herself back to the camp. She could not guess how long shehad been gone,
and she could only hope that she would find herfriends alive when she returned. The burned
wasteland through whichshe’d come had been nothing but a sodden stew of ash, with theruins of
the Ancients’ city suddenly standing as clear andobvious as if they’d been abandoned only the
day before.

In that sea of ash, the perfect circle of ground that Hasmal hadbeen able to protect from the
spellfire stood like a vision ofParanne: heavy with evergreens, laced with the fine sculptures
ofdeciduous trees picked out in black against the gray winter sky,carpeted with leaves that still
retained some of their autumn colorand that lay like gemstones carelessly tossed upon the ground.
Thecastaways’ camp lay within the center of that circle. Kaitheard voices inside the ruin they
used as their base. She alsosmelled decay and death. She knew that when she stepped into
theshelter, she was going to get bad news, but her nose refused totell her how bad it could be.
Post-Shift depression, post-Shiftdullness.

She went in.

Her bad news greeted her by the door. Turben lay to the right inthe first room, his body pulled
under the intact portion of theroof. She knelt at his side and touched him. His corpse was coldand
rigid. He’d been dead for a while.

A soft groan from the back room caught her attention next, andshe hurried in. Ian and Hasmal
crouched at either side ofJayti’s bedroll. Jayti twisted and groaned again.

“Not Jayti,” she whispered. She’d come to admirethe crewman, who had impressed her with his
loyalty, his commonsense, and his courage. “What happened?”

Jayti looked at her with pain-fogged eyes, and managed a smile.“You’re back,” he said. “Gives
me hope that thecaptain’s prayers for me will be heard, too.”

“Kait!” Hasmal shouted. “You’realive!”

Ian leaped to his feet and ran over to her. He picked her up andswung her around, holding her
close, unmindful of her nakedness. Hekissed her passionately, then pressed his cheek to hers.
“Ah,Kait,” he whispered. “I thought I’d lost you.”He pushed her back from him briefly, studied
her, then pulled herinto his arms again. “You’re nothing but bones,girl,” he said. And then, when
he let her go, “How’dyou get through it? And where have you been? I . . . we. . . I gave up on you
yesterday.”