Book 1 - Doomstalker

Book 1 - Doomstalker Read Free Page B

Book: Book 1 - Doomstalker Read Free
Author: Glen Cook
Tags: Fiction, Science-Fiction, Fantasy
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like that, though she
knew there was no avoiding it. In a few years they would assume
adult roles. Then Zambi and Kub would be gone entirely . . . 
    Poor Kublin. And a mind was of no value in a male.
    Across a trickle of a creek, up a slope, across a small meadow,
down the wooded slope bordering a larger creek, and downstream a
third of a mile. There the creek skirted the hip of a substantial
hill, the first of those that rose to become the Zhotak. Marika
settled on her haunches a hundred feet from the stream and thirty
above its level. She stared at the shadow among brush and rocks
opposite that marked the mouth of the cave. Kublin settled beside
her, breathing rapidly though she had not set a hard pace.
    There were times when even she was impatient with his lack of
stamina.
    Sunlight slanted down through the leaves, illuminating blossoms
of white, yellow, and pale red. Winged things flitted from branch
to branch through the dapple of sunlight and shadow, seeming to
flicker in and out of existence. Some light fell near the cave
mouth, but did nothing to illuminate its interior.
    Marika never had approached closer than the near bank of the
creek. From there, or where she squatted now, she could discern
nothing but the glob of darkness. Even the propitiary altar was
invisible.
    It was said that meth of the south mocked their more primitive
cousins for appeasing spirits that would ignore them in any case.
Even among the Degnan there were those who took only the All
seriously. But even they attended ceremonies. Just in case. Ponath
meth seldom took chances.
    Marika had heard that the nomad packs of the Zhotak practiced
animistic rites which postulated dark and light spirits, gods and
devils, in everything. Even rocks.
    Kublin had his breath. Marika rose. Sliding, she descended to
the creek. Kublin followed tautly. He was frightened, but he did
not protest, not even when she leapt the stream. He followed. For
once he seemed determined to outgut her.
    Something stirred within Marika as she stared upslope. From
where she stood the sole evidence of the cave’s presence was
a trickle of mossy water on slick stone, coming from above. In some
seasons a stream poured out of the cave.
    She searched within herself, trying to identify that feeling.
She could not. It was almost as if she had eaten something that
left her slightly irritable, as though there was a buzzing in her
nerves. She did not connect it with the cavern. Never before had
she felt anything but fear when nearby. She glanced at Kublin. He
now seemed more restless than frightened. “Well?”
    Kublin bared his teeth. The expression was meant to be
challenging. “Want me to go first?”
    Marika took a couple of steps, looked upslope again. Nothing to
see. Brush still masked the cave.
    Three more steps.
    “Marika.”
    She glanced back. Kublin looked disturbed, but not in the usual
way. “What?”
    “There’s something in there.”
    Marika waited for an explanation. She did not mock. Sometimes he
could tell things that he could not see. As could
she . . . He quivered. She looked inside for
what she felt. But she could not find it.
    She did feel a presence. It had nothing to do with the cave.
“Sit down,” she said softly.
    “Why?”
    “Because I want to get lower, so I can look through the
brush. Somebody is watching. I don’t want them to know we
know they’re there.”
    He did as she asked. He trusted her. She watched over him.
    “It’s Pohsit,” Marika said, now recalling a
repeated unconscious sense of being observed. The feeling had left
her more wary than she realized. “She’s following us
again.”
    Kublin’s immediate response was that of any pup. “We
can outrun her. She’s so old.”
    “Then she’d know we’d seen her.” Marika
sat there awhile, trying to reason out why the sagan followed them.
It had to be cruel work for one as old as she. Nothing rational
came to mind. “Let’s just pretend she isn’t
there. Come on.”
    They had

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