Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 82

"It's not all I smell."
This was as close as Estrel had ever come to making a joke, and Falk
looked at her with a bit of surprise. "You are happy to be getting close to
the City, aren't you?" he asked. "I wish I were."
"Why shouldn't I be? There I hope to find my kinsfolk; if I do not, the
Lords will help me. And there you will find what you seek too, and be
restored into your heritage."
"My heritage? I thought you thought me a Raze."
"You? Never! Surely you don't believe, Falk, that it was the Shing that
meddled with your mind? You said that once, down on the plains, and I
did not understand you then. How c ould you think yourself a Raze, or any
common man? You are not Earthborn!"
Seldom had she spoken so positively. What she said heartened him,
concurring with his own hope, but her saying it puzzled him a little, for she
had been silent and troubled for a long time now. Then he saw something
swing from a leather cord around her neck: "They gave you an amulet."
That was the source of her hopefulness.
"Yes," she said, looking down at the pendant with satisfaction. "We
are of the same faith. Now all will go well for us."
He smiled a little at her superstition, but was glad it gave her comfort.
As he went to sleep he knew she was awake, lying looking into the
darkness full of the stink and the gentle breath and presence of the animals.
When the cock crowed before daylight he half-roused and heard her
whispering prayers to her amulet in the tongue he did not know.
They went on, taking a path that wound south of the stormy peaks.
One great mountain bulwark remained to cross, and for four days they
climbed, till the air grew thin and icy, the sky dark blue, and the sun of
April shone dazzling on the fleecy backs of clouds that grazed the
meadows far beneath their way. Then, the summit of the pass attained, the
sky darkened and snow fell on the naked rocks and blanked out the great
bare slopes of red and gray. There was a hut for wayfarers in the pass, and
they and their mules huddled in it till the snow stopped and they could
begin the descent.
"Now the way is easy," Estrel said, turning to look at Falk over her
~ 80 ~