There is no threat." "You've done miracles, I know, but do you seriously claim to have covered that entire north face? That's five miles away, and I know from my youth that there are dozens of cavelets -- you have those memories yourself." "That stopped him!" said Pilgrim, laughing. "C'mon. Just translate." She was quite capable of interpreting body language and tone by now. Sometimes even the Tinish chords made sense. "Hmph. Okay." The Queen hiked her baby packs around and sat down. Her tone became conciliatory. "If this weather weren't so clear, or if there were night times,
复件 (10) air max, we might try it,
复件 (9) air max, but -- You remember the old path? Twenty miles inland from here? That should be overgrown by now. And the road coming back is --" Gobble-hiss from Vendacious, angry. "I tell you, this is safe! We'll lose days on the other path. If we arrive late at Flenser's, all my work will be for nothing. You must go forward here." "Oops,
复件 (51) air max2," Pilgrim whispered, unable to resist a little editorializing,
复件 (37) air max1, "Ol' Vendacious may have gone too far with that." The Queen's heads arched back. Pilgrim's imitation of her human voice said, "I understand your anxiety, pack of my blood. But we go forward where I say. If that is intolerable to you, I will regretfully accept your resignation." "But you need me!" "Not that much." Johanna suddenly realized that the whole mission could fall apart right here,
mbt Trainers Sale, without even a shot being fired. Where would we be without Vendacious? She held her breath and watched the two packs. Parts of Vendacious walked in quick circles, stopping for angry instants to stare at Woodcarver. Finally all his necks drooped. "Um. My apologies, Your Majesty. As long as you find me of use, I beg to continue in your service." Now Woodcarver relaxed, too. She reached to pet her puppies. They had responded with her mood, thrashing in their carriers and hissing. "Forgiven. I want your independent advice, Vendacious. It has been miraculously good." Vendacious smiled weakly. "I didn't think the jerk had it in him," Pilgrim said near Johanna's ear. It took two dayarounds to reach the old path. As Woodcarver had predicted, it was overgrown. More: In places there was no sign of the path at all, just young trees growing from slumped earth. It would take days to get down the valley side this way. If Woodcarver had any misgivings about the decision, she didn't mention them to Johanna. The Queen was six hundred years old; she talked often enough about the inflexibility of age. Now Johanna was getting a clear example of what that meant. When they came to a washout,
复件 (4) air max2, trees were cut down and a bridge constructed on the spot. It took a day to get by each such spot. But progress was agonizingly slow even where the path was still in place. No one rode in the carts now. The edge of the path had worn away, and the cart wheels sometimes turned on nothingness. On Johanna's right she could look down at tree crowns that were a few meters from her feet. They ran into the wolves six days along the detour, when they had almost reached the valley floor. Wolves. That's what Pilgrim called them anyway; what Johanna saw looked like gerbils. They had just completed a kilometer stretch of easy going. Even under the trees they could feel the wind, dry and warm and moving ceaselessly down the valley. The last patches of snow between the trees were being sucked to nothingness, and there was a haze of smoke beyond the north wall of the valley.