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Glancing down, she paused in her steps Footprints crossed her path Hide-wrapped feet had punched through the brittle lichen Eight, nine individuals
Flesh and blood Imass? The Bonecaster Pran Chole and his companions? Who walks my dreamscape this time!
Her eyes blinked open to musty darkness Dull pain wrapped her thinned bones Gnarled hands drew the furs close to her chin against the chill She felt her eyes fill ater, blinked up at the swi of the hide tent, and released a slow, agonized breath
’Spirits of the Rhivi,’ she whispered, ’take han, Iruth, Mendalan, S’ren Tahl, Pahryd, Neprool, Manek, Ibindur -- I name you all, take me, spirits of the Rhivi …’
The rattle of her breath, the stubborn beat of her heart … the spirits were deaf to her prayer With a soft whimper, the Mhybe sat up, reached for her clothes
She tottered out intoaround her Off to one side she heard the low of the bhederin, felt the restless ruround, then the shouts of the tribe’s youths returning fro fro of the dawn
Iruth met inal barku sen netral ah’rhitan! IruthThere was no joy within her for another day of life
’Dear lass, I have just the thing for you’
She turned at the voice The Daru Kruppe addling down the path towards her, clutching a sed a wry sifts Past experience …’
’Kruppe sees beyond the wrinkled veil, httouch Kruppe deeply appreciates Mercantile interests,’ he continued, arriving to stand before her, his eyes on the box, ’yield happy, if unexpected gifts Within this modest container awaits a treasure, which I offer to you, dear’
’I have no use for treasures, Kruppe, though I thank you’
’A history worth recounting, Kruppe assures you In extending the tunnel network leading to and froaseous bounty beneath fair Darujhistan, hewn cha each blow of countless antler picks, and upon said rippling surfaces glorious scenes from the distant past were found Painted in spit and charcoal and haematite and blood and snot and Hood knohat else, but there was more More indeed Pedestals, carved in the fashion of rude altars, and upon these altars -- these!’
He flipped back the lid of the box
At first, the Mhybe thought she was looking upon a collection of flint blades, resting on strangely wrought bangles seely of the same fractious material Then her eyes narrowed
’Aye,’ Kruppe whispered ’Fashioned as if they were indeed flint But no, they are copper Cold-haed raw fro stones Layer upon layer Shaped, worked, to e’ His small eyes lifted, met the Mhybe’s ’Kruppe sees the pain of your twisted bones, rieves These copper objects are not tools, but ornaments, to be worn about the body -- you will find the blades have clasps suitable for a hide thong You will find wristlets and anklets, arm-torcs and … uh, necklets There is efficacy in such iteods’
Bemused at her own sentimentality, the Mhybe wiped the tears from her lined cheeks ’I thank you, friend Kruppe Our tribe retains the knowledge of copper’s healing qualities Alas, they are not proof against old age …’
The Daru’s eyes flashed ’Kruppe’s story is not yet coht down to those chambers, sharp minds devoted to the mysteries of antiquity The altars, one for each each chas displaying crude but undeniable iht caverns, each clearly identified We know the hands that carved each of them -- the artists identified themselves -- and Darujhistan’s finest seers confirmed the truth We know, ed’ He reached into the box and withdrew a blade ’Jaghan’ He set it down and picked up an anklet ’S’ren Tahl And here, this small, childlike arrowhead … Manek, the Rhivi imp -- a mocker, was he not? Kruppe feels an affinity with this trickster runt, Manek, oh yes Manek, for all his games and deceits, has a vast heart, does he not? And here, this torc Iruth, see its polish? The dawn’s glow, captured here, in this beaten metal-’