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.The only thing he wore was a carved stone on a cord around hisneck.He was carrying a short, thin spear he d probably come here to fish like me and he dslung a woven bag over his shoulder to carry the fish home in.I ll never forget the way hesmiled.It was as if knew one another completely.But I shouldn t leave out his eyes a blue-green color filled with light the most beautiful eyes I d ever seen; and I was sure he was tryingto say something to me with them, but of course I couldn t receive the message. I ve seen them other times as well, but never so close.Usually it s a figure in thedistance, passing between the trees. What did the others say when you reported seeing a Rand so close? John and Zoë asked me to tell them the story over and over again, but Karl said I musthave been dreaming.He maintains that the Rand are a myth people use to explain things theydon t understand.When something goes missing, they used to say  the Rand took it  or at leastthat s what my uncle told me.But nobody in our family uses that expression any more.As, forthe Rand themselves, Karl says that if they lived in the forest we d catch sight of them moreoften.But of course he s never seen one. What do you think they are? Nobody knows.From what people say, they ve always been here.They probably thinkof us as intruders, although they never harm anyone.But I have a theory.I think they re like us creatures who keep watch over the forest.Maybe they even have an Emperor they report backto. How are the Foresters doing? he asks and they tell him that the Foresters are still doing fine.Who knows?*** Did David tell you what you wanted to know about the Rand? Peter asked Jon a fewdays later. He told me no one knows very much about them. Yes, that s the truth, and there are some who maintain they don t even exist. I believe they exist.I saw one once.Peter blinked. Really? When was that? When I first came here on the trail from the lookout I saw someone in the forest.Notvery clearly, I ll admit, and it disappeared at once, but I was sure that it was a human being.When I told Zoë, she said it must have been a Rand. Then you re a lucky boy, Peter told him. Imagine that! Your first day in our forest andyou saw a Rand.Peter rubbed his chin in a way he had when he was thinking. Does that mean something? Jon asked him. I don t know.But perhaps one of these days the two of us should go farther afieldtogether.We could go into the mountains you might like that better than another trip to theriver.It was stupid of me not to show you the birds when we passed that way a few weeks ago.Iguess I was in a hurry to get home. I d like to do that very much, Jon told him.In fact, what he really wanted was ajourney with John.But that wasn t likely.Not that John ever treated him without kindness.Butthe door shut with a snap every time Jon got too close.And, since John avoided being alone withhim, there was never an occasion for private talk.Besides, John was frequently away from the Forest House.He and his brothers werewatching the road carefully, and recently John and David had encountered more fugitives.Thistime it was two brothers.The Chosen had ordered them to enlist in their army, but they d runaway.In retaliation, the Chosen had accused their parents of sheltering criminals and, when theyrefused to say where their sons had fled, executed them in the public square. Cowards, Karl had called them when he heard the story. What kind of men would letthat happen to their own mother and father? Their parents fate wasn t their fault, John said. They hadn t told their parents wherethey were going because they didn t want to implicate them.They had no idea what was going tohappen.And it s hardly fair to call them men.One was a boy of thirteen, and the other only twoyears older. But how did they get here? Zoë asked. They heard a rumor that it s safe in the South.And they were able to find work here andthere enough to keep them from starving.Men have a better chance than women when theytake to the road although from what they said it s clear several farmers took advantage of them,taking their work but refusing to pay the wage they d agreed to.But now the two are on theirway to Bent Lake.If I hadn t told them to go in that direction, they d have ended up in theterritory of the Brotherhood. And it s thanks to you, Jon, that we know about the village that takes in strangers.Someday I d like to go there to see that place.It s funny, Bent Lake is little more than a day sjourney from this house, but none of us have ever visited it. It s not in our quadrant, Karl pointed out. We go to lots of places that aren t in our quadrant.***Then in late April, John surprised Jon by suggesting that he and Zoë join him on a patrol. Not down to the road, but into the mountains.There are things I want to check out.It wasn t the chance to be alone with John that Jon had been hoping for, but it would bebetter than nothing.However Zoë, to Jon s surprise, turned down the invitation. I can t do it, she told him [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]