"Russell, Sean - River Into Darkness 02 - Compass Of The Soul" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Sean)

tunnel in search of another passage. There her candles had burned to darkness.
Not knowing what to do when she heard the others approaching, she had crawled
into a crevice and lay still, sure anyone could hear the pounding of her heart.
By the poor candle light, Erasmus and the others had not seen her nor had they
the energy or inclination to search. She had watched them go
into the watery passage. Heard them shouting back and forth between the
chambers. And when she thought she could wait no longer and still have strength,
she had followed.
The thought of that water-filled passage caused her to pull her limbs close. She
trembled.
“Do not think of it,” she warned. “Do not.”
She had survived! And here she was… on the surface of the world once more.
Reborn to the light. Reborn—for certainly she had been in the netherworld these
last days. Days! Could it have been only days?
“But what to do?” she whispered. Deacon Rose had been with the others, and she
knew that he would soon be hunting her. Hunting her even now, perhaps. Did he
think she had escaped ahead of them?
“What to do?” she whispered again, feeling her eyes ease closed. She forced them
open. Up. She must press on. As soon as the seeds were dry, for she could not
let mold touch them. They were more precious than diamonds. Almost more precious
than life.
Had Halsey escaped, she wondered? Did Eldrich think they had all died in the
cavern? Difficult to answer. She no longer presumed to have even the slightest
knowledge of the mage’s mind. He had deceived them—trapped them with disturbing
ease—and only she had escaped, and that only by a near-miracle.
The Entonne border was nearby, and Anna could almost feel it offering haven. If
only her resources were not so depleted! Food and rest were utterly imperative,
for she had endured beyond her limits. Food and rest and clothing. And money.
Anna had not a coin in her possession. But where? Where could she go that
Eldrich would not suspect?
Perhaps Halsey had escaped unnoticed. He was wary and meticulous in his
precautions. Eldrich might well have missed him. Flames, if she had only paid
heed!
No use flogging herself with this. Survive. That was her task now. Her
obligation.
Carefully she rolled the seed around on the linen, which lured the bird nearer,
extending its neck to watch.
“What bird are you?” she asked. “Not a rook, I think, but some distant cousin.
Cousin to the carrion crow. Dark-eyed and cunning.
Cold-hearted, too, I’ll wager. Perhaps you are the perfect familiar for me,
then. For all those who were close to my heart are gone, and they will never be
replaced. Not if I am to succeed in what I must do.“ Saying this she wrapped the
seed up again and buttoned it carefully into her pocket before rising stiffly.
Her mind was made up. It might be dangerous, but she could not proceed without
knowing what had befallen Halsey. If he had fled, he would leave signs. Things
so subtle that even a mage might miss them. And if he had been discovered… Well,
if he’d been able, he would have left signs of that, too.
A waning moon sailed west until cast up on a shoal of cloud: stuck fast in the
heavens.
Anna crouched in the midst of a stand of shrubs, watching. The house that Halsey