Louise Cooper - Indigo 06 - Avatar by Louise Cooper - Indigo 06 Page B

woman and her leader, at least the worst of the risks might be avoided.
    “I would not say that you should trrr-ust her,” Grimya said. “Not yet. But I think she might be ready to be our frriend, and my instinct tells me that would be a good beginning.”
    “Your instinct’s rarely wrong, Grimya, and I’m inclined to rely on it. Shalune’s as unlikely an ally as anyone might think to find, but I’ll try to befriend her.” Indigo glanced again toward the cave’s entrance. “It may be only a small step. But if the Ancestral Lady is the demon we’re seeking, it could be a vital step.”

 
     
•CHAPTER•VI•
     
    Indigo watched as Shalune deftly hooked a pot from the fireside and began to ladle the contents into two clay bowls.
    “This is the first time I’ve been able to tell you how grateful I am to you, Shalune,” she said in the Dark Isle tongue. “I should have expressed it before now, but I didn’t know how to say it properly in your language.”
    Shalune looked up and grinned at her. “There’s nothing to be grateful for. I only did what the Ancestral Lady told me; anyone else would have done the same.”
    Indigo listened while Grimya silently translated unfamiliar words and phrases. These were few now; they had been in the citadel for fifteen days, and with the wolf’s help, she had made very rapid progress in learning the Dark Islers’ speech. She returned Shalune’s smile, wondering if she might venture to ask her some questions that Uluye, it seemed, wasn’t prepared to answer in any detail.
    To begin with, she hadn’t yet been called upon to perform the oracle’s duties a second time. She wouldn’t deny for a moment that she was glad of that, but she also found it strange. However, when she had tried tentatively to ask Uluye about it, Uluye’s only response had been to shrug and say that that was in the Ancestral Lady’s hands.
    Shalune, though, might be more forthcoming, and so Indigo said: “Shalune, may I ask you a question?”
    “Ask.” Then Shalune chuckled. “Though it should be me asking you, eh? You’re the oracle, after all!”
    “So everyone says. But since that first night, I’ve not been expected to speak again.” She paused. “I’ve been wondering when the next occasion will come.”
    “We can’t predict that,” Shalune told her. “It’s for the Ancestral Lady to choose the time and the place for her next revelation, not us. She will speak through you again when she has something to say, and not before. But don’t worry,” she added, again giving Indigo her startling, ferocious grin. “When the time comes, you’ll know of it before anyone else!”
    Encouraged by the woman’s good humor and her willingness to speak freely, Indigo asked, “But what if the time doesn’t come? What if you’re wrong, and I’m not an oracle after all?”
    Shalune looked blank. “That’s not possible. You are.”
    “How can you be certain?”
    “Because the signs were clear, of course. Uluye surely told you about the signs?”
    Indigo shook her head. “No. I tried to ask, but ... well ...”
    Shalune hesitated for a moment, as though not sure of how frank she dared be, then shrugged. “Uluye maybe had her reasons for not saying. But I haven’t got any reasons. The Ancestral Lady’s last words to us through her old oracle were that we should travel southwestward on our search and we would find the chosen one taking shelter from a great storm. The chosen one, the oracle said, would have an animal for her companion, and our first test would be the saving of her life with our healing and our magic.” She shrugged again. “How could the two we searched for have been anyone but you and Grimya? Unless you were a hushu trying to trick us, and we’d have found that out by now!“ She chuckled throatily.
    Indigo stared at her. “A what?”
    “You don’t know about hushu ?” Shalune paused with her ladle in midair and a peculiar expression on her face.
    Grimya, too,