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I focused on the girl Gaht What she had to say was far ht now than any of my old memories I pretended a kind of calm, but decided to push her a step further
Riser would have done the sah situation
"So tel us--did you ever realy know?" I asked
She gave me a feral look, pushed between the old man and ain For a ht she would fal over, but instead, she spun around several tier
"There!" she cried hoarsely "I feel it again! We need to go there" She jabbed her finger at a diagonal to the far gray wal
"Not away from the wal?" Gamelpar asked
"No," she said, face radiant "We need to move that way"
"That takes us back to the city," Gao back there," she admitted, her voice low
"Why not?" I asked In truth, I was curious to see the city
"Bad memories," Gamelpar said "Are you sure that’s the way?"
"We could walk around the city," she ventured Then she shook her head "No I need to go thereinto the city, through the city--first" She took Gae They don’t want you there"
"Are you sure the city’s deserted?" I asked
She nodded "Nobody goes there anymore," she said
"Not even Forerunners?" I asked, but neither of the of an answer
Chapter Six
WE TOOK THE long way around the vilage toward the old city
As alked, I decided on my own terms for directions on the wheel Inland or inward e wal--until, I supposed, one reached theoutward, or outland, toward the opposite wal
East was the direction fro" West was the direction of the fleeing light
We rested as night came down I lay on irl, and tried to anticipate what ht happen next Wherever the Didact and Bornstelar had taken me, memories and ideas and even indelible instructions had popped up inthe sairl--not you or the old ain
"Go to sleep," I h
Gamelpar had pointed out that my skin was not marked I presumed that would reveal to Forerunners that I was a recent arrival My thoughts grew hazier and wilder Having seen ered Vinnevra’s urge to travel I could aline the instructions the Lifeshaper had laid down in our flesh: See this, do that Meet this visitor, take hie, behave this way
Like puppets, at times we seemed to be oing into the city--despite my curiosity, the necessity of that was less than obvious to Gamelpar and ate on the western side of the old city The thick mud and rock rampart stretched unbroken for hundreds of ate gave entrance to a tunnel about twenty
"Thick wals--to keep Forerunners out?" I asked Gaate, staring into the gloo bandsraiders Humans were on their own for centuries before I cae," I said
He blinked atherself to go through the tunnel
"You are stil sure?" he asked her
She stubbornly lifted her shoulders and sprinted ahead, eager to get through the darkness
Gaain eary eyes "The Lady has her ways"
As we folowed the girl, I told the on the wheel We eht, stepped over another broken gate, and stood in a narrow lane that folowed the wal and separated s from the wal itself
The old man listened intently When I finished, he said, "East, west, north, southneords We say turnwise, lightwise, crosswise I suppose they’re al the sah to care much for the old words The new ones ork just as wel"
Above us, a parapet leaned out, crossing the top of the gate anda stone tower on either side Guards had seen fit to look within as wel as without
"War," I said "The Lady always alows us the freedoht each other"
Gaap-toothed smirk "Where there is freedoht We die"
"Was it that way before we met the Forerunners?" I asked My old spirit did not express an opinion
"Probably," Gamelpar said "It’s likely the same for Forerunners
But il ask thelared at us "Keep close," she said
"We shouldn’t stay here any longer than we have to" She looked around, lips drawn tight, then , skinny legs
I have no doubt you have seen marvels of architecture on the worlds you know--Earth today, perhaps And I had seen great enius of huht us low But this old city reh surrounded by thicker wals
The h, the third stories on both sides leaning in and al over narrow dirt or cobble streets The second and third floors were supported by wooden beah the wals --old wood no doubt cut from the nearby forests until only stunted trees re, as alked and walked, I suspected that this city had once been larger and h its true scale was difficult to judge I would have liked to see it frohborhoods
Fro sealed into our bubbles, Riser and I had looked down upon entire worlds--cities no es A revelation at the ti for a ain, did not co--his comments or his silence
As we penetrated deeper into the winding lanes, Vinnevra seeeas, her sense of direction
Several times she turned around and doubled us back But we tended--I noticed, and no doubt Gaonal she had first pointed out, cutting, I judged, across one-third of the old city
The low oval doors of the buildings were dark and silent but for a