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Shadow braced back and feet against the walls and began working her
way down as quickly as she could without falling. The heat increased, and
the seat of her pants became quite uncomfortably hot. Her eyes were
streaming so that it was difficult to place her feet, and it was impossible to
see how much further she had to go.
POP! A log exploded somewhere beneath her, and suddenly the seat of
her pants was no longer just hot it was blazing. Shadow jerked sharply
and her feet came loose. Her back scraped painfully on the chimney blocks
as she fell, only to land with a crash directly on the fire!
"YEEEOOOW!"
Shadow sprang up from her uncomfortable seat and crashed directly
into Argent, who was hurrying over, sending them both tumbling to the
floor.
"Shadow? What " Argent began dazedly.
"MY PANTS!" Shadow yowled, rolling over the rug.
Argent immediately slapped at the flames, a process which, however
successful, added nothing to Shadow's comfort. As soon as the blaze was
out, Shadow pulled away and hurried for the front door, fishing in her
tunic front as she did so.
The vial was cool, or at least as cool as could be expected under the
circumstances, and remained so at all sides of the house. Only after
Shadow had tested each entrance and looked carefully out the windows
did she finally sigh with relief and slouch, panting, against the wall.
"Shadow, what in the Mother Forest is the matter with you?" Argent
said exasperatedly. "Has it ever occurred to you to come to the front door
of a building and knock? Just look at yourself!"
Shadow walked over to a polished shield mirror (leaving a black
smudge on the white wall where she'd leaned), and had to laugh. The
entire back and most of one leg of her pants were burned away, and her
tunic was torn in several places. She was covered with soot from top to
toe, and where there was no soot she was smeared with mud and manure
from the road. Her hair was half-undone and hanging down in dirty black
ropes around her face, framing a bloody lump on the top of her head.
Almost immediately her laughter turned to coughs, and Argent's
expression of annoyance gave way to concern.
"Never mind for now," he said quickly. "Let's get you into a bath and I'll
see to your head."
The hot water of Argent's bathing pool was painful on Shadow's
scorched flanks, but she scrubbed ruthlessly at hair and hide until the last
traces of dirt and soot were gone. Argent brought a cold compress for her
head and soothing lotion for her burns, and at last, wrapped (or rather,
buried) in one of Argent's robes and armed with a mug of cold ale,
Shadow was able to relax and tell Argent about the attempt on her life.
Argent only shook his head ruefully when she had finished.
"And I thought you were exaggerating your danger this mom," he said
with a sigh. "Nonetheless, after you left I remembered that you had no key
to my home, so I left Elaria to run the shop and came directly back. I've
given the servants a holiday, so the house should be secure enough, but
what will you do now?"
"Nothing tonight." Shadow sighed. "I don't even have any clothes.
Tomorrow I've got to check back with somebody for news. I'm hoping that
by then there won't be anything to worry about."
Argent looked at her probingly.
"Should I ask?"
"No, better not." Shadow smiled wanly. "If I'd been thinking straight, I
probably wouldn't have accepted your offer to stay here, but it came at the
right time, unfortunately for you."
Argent sat silent for a long moment, then shook his head again.
"You're probably hungry," he said. "I hope you don't mind cold food, as
I sent the cook home with the rest. Unless you can cook?"
"Me?" Shadow chuckled. "I can prop something over a fire if I'm
starving. Anything more complicated than that and we will starve. But I
don't suppose you have anything I could wear? This robe of yours would
make me three outfits."
"I might have something old of Elaria's," Argent said doubtfully.
"Elaria must have five handspans on me," Shadow laughed. "Anything
of hers is going to fit me like warhorse barding on a pony. Never mind, I'll
figure something out tomorrow. Come on, let's see what's in the
pantry and, more importantly, the wine cellar."
This mission was somewhat comically accomplished, for Argent's robe
was almost two feet too long in the hem and the sleeves, and after nearly
breaking her neck on the stairs, Shadow tossed it aside and continued in
her bare skin (not entirely to Argent's displeasure). After a feast of bread,
cheese, cold mutton and wine, Shadow opted for another bath.
"I could fall in love with your bathing pool." She sighed, luxuriating in
the bubbly water. "In all my travels, I've only found three cities with hot
springs piped in. After spending most of the last week on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]