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silver hoard or something equally interesting to swap for our music. We might be able to get him to grant
unmolested passage to Gypsies and Free Bards, and that would be worth a night of playing, alone  we
might need a road some day that no one will take."
He chewed on his lip, fiercely, and thought about it. She had a point. She had a very real point. The old
road ran this way for a reason; it was a shorter route than the one that Harperus and T'fyrr were taking.
If Gypsies and Free Bards knew it was safe for them to use, it could take a couple of days off their trips
in this part of the world.
And if no one else would use the road for fear of the Ghost  it made a very neat escape route in case
of trouble. From here to Stillwater was no great distance, and Stillwater could be held against even
armed men if necessary.
 "Let me get a lantern and walk ahead of the horses, so I can spot the place where the road forks," she
said, while he was still thinking about it.
He pulled the horses to a halt; she wriggled back over the bed, and popped out the back with a lit
lantern in her hand. She trotted up to take the halter of the right-hand horse, and held the lantern over her
head to keep from getting glare in her eyes.
Well, that was all very well for her, but nothing saved him from the lantern-glare! He squinted, but he
couldn't quite make out the road. He let the reins go slack; she was the one who could see where they
were going 
And he realized a few moments later that she was leading them down the left-hand fork of the road. The
overgrown, but obviously older, fork of the road.
"Robin!"he yelped. "Wh-what are youd-d-doing ?"
She stopped the horses, and looked back at him, a little defiantly.
"I told you!" she said. "I want to climb Skull Hill to meet this Ghost face to  whatever!"
Robin left the mares and brought her lantern back to Kestrel, placing it at his feet. She looked up into his
face, carefully gauging his expression. "I don't think there's any real danger," she said, calmlyand
reasonably, watching his eyes. "Honestly, or I wouldn't even consider this."
He didn't seem frightened. Of course, he could be hiding his fear. "N-no d-d-d-danger," he repeated
sarcastically. "Wh-when wh-who kn-kn-knowshow m-m-many p-p-p-people have d-d-died up
th-there!"
She took a very deep breath and got a firm grip on her temper. He wasn't saying she was stupid 
wasn't even implying it. "When have I ever done anything really reckless?" she asked him.
He looked as if he was about to say something  but thought better of it, and closed his mouth again.
"G-go on," he said grimly. "I'm l-l-listening. If y-you have a r-r-real argument, b-b-besides c-curiosity, I
w-want to h-hear it."
"I've known something about magic for a long time," she told him. "At least, about some of the tinier
magics. Not Bardic Magic, but little things Gypsies take for granted; healing, animal-charming, that kind
of thing. And I think I know how this Ghost kills. I am pretty sure that his only realweapon is fear, and he
can't do anything unless you're already afraid of him."
Kestrel looked skeptical, but a little less grim. "S-so?"
She licked her lips, and stared at the lamp flame for a moment. "If you're afraid of him, he can turn that
fear against you  he can make it so overwhelming that  that it becomes something the human body
just can't deal with. The heart races until it just gives up, he chases you until you drop dead of exhaustion,
that kind of thing. Maybe some people don't die  maybemost of them don't die, they just run mad in
this wilderness until they die of thirst or starve, or wild beasts get them."
 "Th-that's v-v-very c-c-comforting," he said with heavy irony.
"But the point is that if youaren't afraid of him, he can't hurt you," she insisted. "Or if you interest him, he
won't use that weapon of his! Rune wasn't completely terrified of him  and she interested him. So she
was able to stand up to him. I don't know why we can't!"
Kestrel shook his head. "Wh-who s-s-said w-we aren't af-f-fraid of h-him?" he muttered. "N-n-not
m-m-me."
She chuckled, as if he had made a joke. "Jonny, do you think I would have suggested this if you weren't
a Master Bard in your own right? Think a minute! Rune managed to entertain this Ghost before she was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]