that can help the free-bom. It’s a place to be for now.”
He glanced over. “But not where you want to end up, is that
what you’re saying? ”
She gave him a flicker of a smile. “It’s not for me.”
“What is? ”
“I don’t know yet. Do you? ”
He thought about it. “I guess I don’t. I haven’t let myself
think beyond what’s been happening these past few weeks.
I’ve been running so fast I haven’t had time to stop and think.”
She leaned back. “I haven’t been running. I’ve been stand-
ing in place, waiting for something to happen.”
He shifted to face her. “I was like that before I came north.
I spent all of my time thinking of ways to make life miserable
for the Federation occupiers—all those officers and soldiers
living in the home that had belonged to my family, pretending
it was theirs. I thought I was doing something, but I was really
just standing in place.”
She gave him a curious glance. “So now you’re running in-
stead. Is that any better? ”
He smiled and shrugged. “At least I’m seeing more of the
country.”
The rains slowed, the skies began to clear, and they resumed
their journey. Morgan found himself sneaking glances at Many
Roh, studying the expression on her face, the lines of her body,
and the way she moved. He thought her intriguing, suggestive
of so much more than what she allowed to show. On the sur-
face she was cool and purposeful, a carefully fixed mask that
hid stronger and deeper emotions beneath. He believed, for
The Talismans of Shannara 95
reasons he could not explain, that she was capable of almost
anything.
It was nearing midday when she turned him into the rocks
and they began to follow a trail that ran upward into the hills
fronting the Dragon’s Teeth. They entered a screen of trees that
hid the mountains ahead and the plains behind, and when they
emerged they were at the foot of the peaks. The trail disap-
peared with the trees, and they were soon climbing more
rugged slopes, picking their way over the rocks as best they
could. Morgan found himself wondering, rather uncharitably, if
Matty Roh knew where she was going. After a while they
reached a pass and followed it through a split in the rocks into
a deep defile. The cliff walls closed about until there was only
a narrow ribbon of clouded blue sky visible overhead. Birds
took flight from their craggy perches and disappeared into the
sun. Wind whistled in sudden gusts down the canyon’s length,
a shrill and empty sound.
When they stopped for a drink from the water skin, Morgan
glanced at the girl to see how she was holding up. There was
a sheen of sweat on her smooth face, but she was breathing
easily. She caught him looking, and he turned quickly away.
Somewhere deep in the split Matty Roh took them into a
cluster of massive boulders that appeared to be part of an old
slide. Behind the concealing rocks they found a passageway
that tunneled into the cliff wall. They entered and began to
climb a spiraling corridor that opened out again onto a ledge
about halfway up. Morgan peered down cautiously. It was a
straight drop. A narrow trail angled upward from where they
stood, the cut invisible from below, and they followed the
pathway to the summit of the cliff and along the rim to another
split, this one barely more than a crack in the rocks, so narrow
that only one person at a time could pass through.
Matty Roh stopped at the opening. “They’ll come for us in
a moment,” she announced, slipping the water skin from her
shoulder and passing it to him so that he could drink.
He declined the offering. If she didn’t need a drink, neither
did he. “How will they know we’re here? ” he asked.
That flicker of a smile came and went. “They’ve been
watching us for the past hour. Didn’t you see them? ”
96 The Talismans of Shannara
He hadn’t, of course, and she knew it, so he just shrugged