The Ghost Sister Read Online Free PDF Page B

into the bag and turned toward the wild orchards which flanked the tower. The small fruit-bearing simmet hung over the water, the red blossoms falling like the petals of the sun. The peace of the scene drove my dream away at last and I thought:
I was right. This was a good place to bring Mevennen.
Even I, water sensitive, could barely sense the fierce pull of the sea tides; the long estuary held them at bay, diminishing their force.
    Then, from my vantage point on the bank, I saw something moving among the black branches of the fruit trees: a dark shape, half glimpsed. I thought perhaps someone had let one of the riding mur out to hunt, but they were highland animals by nature and this low, rich country was not appealing to them.
    It was moving quickly, brushing through the branches. I knew that hill predators sometimes came down into the valleys if the hunting was poor. I watched for a few minutes, but could see nothing more. I ran swiftly down to the trees and melted into the shadows beneath the branches with my sword drawn, watching, but nothing moved.
    The bloodmind senses twitched within me, turning me to predator. This time, unlike the moments when my senses ambushed me in the presence of Mevennen's weakness, I did not struggle to keep the bloodmind back. My senses searched out for another presence and found it. Suddenly, it was as though I were standing next to it. I knew where it was, now, but I could not yet tell what it might be. I could smell its flesh: a rank, pungent odor. I could almost taste its blood in my mouth as I listened for the small, betraying sounds it made. My fingers twitched. I glided through the trees, slipping around the fallen branches toward it until I reached the edge of the orchard. The sense of another presence vanished abruptly, but the skin crawled at the nape of my neck. I turned. There was nothing there.
    Perhaps it was only a wandering child, but it unsettled me, nonetheless. Uneasily I went back to the tower and cleaned the fish. I felt their spirits leap beneath my hands, slipping down to the estuary waters. The scaly flesh was cold against my fingers; dun colored and dappled with light. I took the heads and guts out to the stables and fed them to the murai. On the stairs, I met Sereth, who said, “Mevennen still isn't well. I told her to sit out in the orchard this afternoon and see if she feels any better. She shouldn't stay mewed up in the house.”
    Her voice was disapproving and I smiled. Sereth, uncomfortable with sickness, always thought that it could be cured by strength of will, no matter what the evidence to the contrary.
    As the day rose I climbed up to the long covered gallery which runs along the top of the tower. From here, one could see for many
ei
, up and down the estuary. Far across the river mouth, the lowlands of the steppe climbed in stages, purple in the distance, and beyond them my home of Ulleet and the Zheray Empty country, all of it, apart from the fertile river valleys and the fort settlements clinging to the coast. A rainstorm was building to the north, and in thedistance I could feel the great energy ley of the Ottara Path humming through the air.Anxiety flickered across my mind like lightning. I thought of the
mehedin
and his prophecies, of a star falling from the evening skies, and then of a shape moving purposefully through the orchard.
The mehedin saw death, Eleres. Mine.
And despite the mildness of the day I felt as though winter had reached down the year and touched me with its breath.
5. The mission
    Shu Gho craned her neck, trying to see as far as she could before the aircar sailed once more into the clouds, but the uncertain sunlight was reflecting from the laminated flex-glass and all she could see for the moment was her own face, framed in the dark green curves of the viewport. Shu frowned at the round, familiar visage, with its small chin and tilted eyes beneath the coil of black hair, fancying that she could see a few more lines, a blurring