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."Maybe Dalamar's initials," he said to himself drowsily.He really had eaten too much, but then it had all tasted so good! His fingers stroked the spoonlovingly.He fully intended to return it to the table, but his fingers absentmindedly carried thespoon to his shirt pocket and deposited it there.Tas yawned.Truly a delightful meal!Usha evidently felt the same.She lay sprawled in a chair, her legs outstretched, her hands foldedover her stomach, her head lolling to one side, her eyes half-closed.She was warm and safe and wonderfully content."I don't think I've ever tasted anything like that!"she murmured, yawning."Me neither," said Tas, blinking his eyes, trying hard to stay awake.With his topknot, he looked very much like a tufted owl.When Dalamar and Jenna entered the room, both Tas and Usha smiled up at them in a hazy,surfeited torpor.The wizards exchanged a conspiratorial glance.The dark elf made a cursory examination of theroom, swiftly catalogued its contents."Only one spoon missing," he remarked."And the kender's been left alone in this room for over an hour.I believe that must set some sort of record." Reaching down, he plucked the silverware from Tas's pocket."I found it on the floor," Tas said and, without really knowing what he was doing, sleepily ran through an entire litany of kender counsel for the defense."It fell into my pouch by accident.Are you sure it's yours? I thought you didn't want it anymore.You just walked off and left it.I wasgoing to wash it and give it back to you.""Thank you," said Dalamar, and replaced the spoon on the table."You're welcome," said Tas, smiling, and closed his eyes.Dalamar turned to Usha, who-grinning foolishly-waved her hand at him."Great meal.""Thank^ you.I understand you carry a letter for me," Dalamar said."Oh, yeah.Here.Here somewhere." Usha slid her hand into one of the pockets of her silken trousers.Retrieving the scroll, she waved it blithely in the air."What did you put in that cider, my love?" Jenna whispered to Dalamar.Retrieving the scroll, she examined it carefully."Is this it, child? Are you certain?""I'm not your child," Usha said crossly."You're not my mother and you're not much older than I am, so quit giving yourself airs, lady.""Whose child are you?" Dalamar asked casually, accepting the letter.He did not open it at once, but stood regarding Usha thoughtfully, searching for some resemblancebetween her and his sha-lafi-a man whom the elf had admired and loved, feared and hated.Usha gazed up at him from lowered eyelids."Whose child do you think I am?""I don't know," Dalamar returned, seating himself in a chair near Usha's."Tell me about your parents.""We lived in the Plains of Dust," Usha began."You did not." Dalamar's voice was sharp, flicked across Usha like a whip."Don't lie to me, girl."She flinched, sat up straighter, regarded him warily."I'm not lying.""Yes, you are.These magical items"-Dalamar tossed the pouch into Usha's lap-"are of Irda make.I recognize them." He held up the letter."Undoubtedly this tells me the truth.""No, it doesn't," Usha returned.Her head was beginning to throb her tongue was dry and felt thick and fuzzy.She didn't like this place anymore, didn't like the black-robed mage.She'd done hererrand.It was time to leave."If s just a story about a rock.I don't know why Prot thought it was important." Gathering up her pouches, she rose-somewhat unsteadily-to her feet."And now, since I've delivered the letter, I'll be going.Thanks for the meal-"She stopped.Jenna's hand rested on her shoulder."There's no way out," said Dalamar, tapping himself on the lips with the rolled-up scroll, "unless / provide it.Please, sit down, Usha.You are my guest for a time.You and the kender.There, that's better.Now," he continued in a pleasant, dangerous tone, "tell me about your parents.""I don't know anything," Usha said, alarmed, wary."Not really.I was an orphan.The Irda took me in, raised me from the time I was a baby."Jenna seated herself on the arm of Dalamar's chair."They must have told you something else.""They didn't," Usha hedged."But I managed to find out some on my own.Have you ever heard of the Valum?""Valin," corrected Tasslehoff.Curiosity and sleep were waging a battle for him.Yawning, he pinched himself to stay awake."The word is Valin.""I know that," Usha snapped, casting the kender a swift, baleful glance.Smiling limpidly, she turned back to Dalamar."Valin, of course.It must be the cider, makes me mispronounce things."Dalamar said nothing, squeezed Jenna's hand when she would have spoken."Anyway," Usha went on, "one night, when I was supposed to be in bed, I heard someone come into our house.Irda almost never have company and so I crept from my bed to see who it was.Thevisitor was a man the Irda call the Decider.He and Prot were talking and they were talking aboutme! So, of course, I listened."They said lots of things I didn't understand - about the Valin and how my mother had been an Irda who'd left her people and gone into the world.How she met a young magic-user in a tavern in anenchanted forest.She was accosted by some thugs in this tavern and the mage and his older brother- ""Twin brother," Tasslehoff said, but the words were lost in a prodigious yawn." - and the mage saw my mother's face and thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd everseen in his life.And she looked at him and the Valin happened between them and - ""Explain the Valin," Dalamar said quietly.Usha frowned."You said you knew what it was.""No," Dalamar protested mildly."You said I knew what it was.""I know what it is!" cried Tas, sitting bolt upright and waving his hand in the air."Let me tell!""Thank you, Burrfoot," said Dalamar coldly."But I would prefer to hear the Irda side of the story.""Well.the Valin is.something that happens.between a man and a woman," Usha began, her cheeks flushing crimson."It.er.brings them together.I guess that's what it does." She shrugged again."Prot never told me much about it, except to say that it wouldn't happen to me.""And why not?" Dalamar asked softly."Because I'm part human," Usha answered him."Indeed?And who is your father?""The young magic-user in the story," Usha said offhandedly."His name is Raistlin.Raistlin Majere." "Told you so," said Tasslehoff.Dalamar pursed his lips, tapped them with the edge of the scroll.He stared at Usha so long, insilence, that she grew nervous, uneasy, tried to shift away from the gaze of the fathomless eyes.At length, the dark elf rose abruptly, walked over to the table.Usha gave a sigh of relief, as if she'd just been released again from her prison cell."This is very fine wine," Dalamar said, reaching for the carafe."You should try some [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]