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I lifted my head. I looked up. I whispered.
 Seg?
 In the name of all the windy heights of Erthyrdrin, Dray! Get up, dom, and let us get out of here before
the Froyvil-forsaken cramphs come arunning.
 Seg.
 Well, who else  Then that old familiar voice, that well-loved voice, altered. Seg  for it was he, it
was Seg Segutorio  came to me, knelt, and put a hand under my chin, and lifted. He looked into my
face, and I smiled.
 Dray! You re in a bad way!
  No, Seg. No  for you are alive, and I have mourned you long and long. Oh  Seg!
He picked me up then, hoisting me high to his chest, and he carried me out and away, through corridors
that led from and to I knew not where in that great palace of the Emperor of Vallia. Presently he brought
me to a small space where he lay me on a trundle bed; there he carried water, bathed me, and ministered
to my wounds.
 Seg  I reached a trembling hand up and grasped his forearm.  Thelda?
He smiled and continued bathing my wounds.  She is a proud mother now, Dray. A fine boy. Then a
look of furtiveness crossed his face, and I could guess, and I said feebly:  He has my blessing. I will bring
the Yerthyr shoot 
 You re the same Dray, my old dom! The same Dray Prescot!
 But  I said. I still could not believe. Out there in the Hostile Territories when the army of Queen Lilah
of Hiclantung had been defeated by the Harfnars of Cherwangtung, Seg, Thelda, and I had raced with
the remnants of Hwang s proud regiment, and I had seen what I had seen.  You went down, Seg. Thelda
and you. The nactrixes boiled over you like chanks in a bloody sea.
 True. By the Veiled Froyvil, but they were a ferocious bunch! I slew them until I could slay no more,
and their corpses heaped above us. They left us to chase you. I thought you dead, then, Dray.
 But 
He smiled and tilted a glass cup to my lips. It held water of an iciness I usually find disagreeable, but now
it tasted like the best Zond wine.
 I heard what happened with you and Delia. You did not think, after you were missing fromLorenztone,
that she would calmly fly off and leave, did you?
I looked at him.
 Little you know Delia of Delphond, Dray Prescot, if you think that! Chuktar Farris of Vomansoir was
ordered  and I can imagine your Delia telling him!  to return and search for you. They did not find
you. They found Thelda and me.
 Thank God for that, I said. I said  thank God ; I did not say  thank Zair , or Opaz, or the Invisible
Twins, or Pandrite, or use any of the colorful expressions of Kregen.
 So we came back to Vallia and I do not like to think what Delia went through then. Thelda and I were
married 
 And you have a son called Dray.
He started to look uncomfortable, then the old fey wildness broke through, and he glared at me.  Of
course! What better name in all the world is there? Tell me that, you stubborn old onker!
 And how did you come to be here?
 Why, I am a bowman, or had you forgotten? I am a private Koter in the personal bodyguard of the
Emperor, the crimson Bowmen of Loh 
I tried to sing a certain stanza of that song, and although my voice cracked and wheezed like a leaky set
of bagpipes, Seg got the message. The stanza is a particularly mocking one. It is often omitted. Seg threw
back his head and laughed.
 Now, by Vox! I can live again, Dray Prescot!
After that a confusion set in, and I was aware of shadows moving, and then of a woman sobbing and
crying and laughing and holding me in her arms, whereat I grunted and pretended to be much more soggy
than I was. Poor Thelda! She meant so well, with her pushy ways, and her constant exhibited concern for
everyone s welfare. But, as I was to discover, she had changed enormously from the plump sweaty
earnest girl who had marched with us across the Hostile Territories and tried to suborn me away from
Delia on the orders of the racters.
I did say, itching an old sore:  Where are the fallimy flowers for my poultice, Thelda?
At this she burst into a torrent of tears, all wet and sticky. I heard Seg chuckle, and Thelda went away,
crying. Seg bent over me.  You must rest now, Dray. A doctor is coming. Then we will get you out of
the palace.
I opened my mouth to say what I so desperately longed to ask. Then I shut my mouth. I was well
enough aware of the situation and what had happened. I dare not ask for Delia. I knew people were
risking their lives on my behalf. Seg was a private Koter in the Emperor s bodyguard, a crimson
Bowman of Loh, and thus had been able to dispose of the men carrying me out to execution. They had
been his own comrades; he had slain them for me. I felt the shame of that, the fierce leap of pride, and
the dark agony of remorse, but it was done, and, in truth, for my Delia s sake I would wade through
oceans of blood, as I have said. I am not a nice man.
 Don t take chances, Seg. Clear up all traces. For your sake, and Thelda s  and little Dray s.
 Do not fret, Dray. Erthyr the Bow is with me now.
At this I felt more reassurance, for Seg seldom called on the name of that puissant and powerful spirit,
the supreme being of Erthyrdrin; that he felt like that, and I knew it was a genuine emotion, proved he
was satisfied.
Later I discovered more of the reasons for that satisfaction. But, even now, Delia will toss her head,
grow very hoity-toity, and refuse to discuss just what was contrived. I know a body was found and
substituted for me, and a convincing explanation put forward for the absence of five bowmen, four
private Koters, and a Jiktar. At dead of night, with only two smaller moons hurtling low across the sky, I
was conveyed out of the palace and secreted in a hidden room built into the attic of a lopsided house
leaning crazily at the end of a maze of alleyways well away from the canals. The Presidio, the high council
answerable only to the Emperor, confirmed his haughty actions in condemning me to instant execution.
Korf Aighos and the other eight Blue Mountain Boys were put on trial. I asked about them, and Seg
nodded, his face alive with all the old fey qualities, the strengths, the joyousness, the sheer love of life of
his character. His black hair and blue eyes looked dearly familiar to me.
 They have been found guilty  as they were, Froyvil knows  but Delia knows your feelings, she s
known you long enough to read you like an illuminated scroll of my childhood, and we have plans to
rescue them.
 And, in due course of time, they were rescued and secreted in another safe house in Vondium. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]