[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.There itcrouched, eyes hooded by lashless lids.Presently theone on the pallet sighed and stirredweakly upon the cushions.Scait shifted his weight, impatient, but the older Thienz wouldnot be hurried.It removed an honour bracelet and bent the ornament around the supineThienz' wrist.The fact that the recipient lacked strength to acknowledge the accolade gavethe Demon Lord pause; Maelgrim must be failing fast, to have drained a Thienz to thepoint where it abandoned indulgence of vanity.At last the elder raised its head.'To the death of enemies,' it sent, then passed itsludicrously tiny hand before the lantern.Awareness joined with the underling linked toMaelgrim in Sathid-bond, and an image shimmered to visibility above the flame.TheEarl's hall at Morbrith became manifest through the distant eyes of the Dark-dreamer.Night darkened the high, arched windows there, but no stars shone.Hedged by deepshadow, fallen trestles and furnishings bulked like the broken bones of dragons against asolitary gleam of light, a candle shielded behind panes of violet glass.Tinted illuminationwas unnatural for mankind; at least one figure gathered around the stricken form of theDark-dreamer was not human.From the shadowy depths of a cloak hood gleamed the eyesof a Llondian empath.The Kielmark stood to one side, both fists clasped to his great sword.Distrustful as he wasof strangers at thebest of times, the presence of a demon called in as ally did little to settle him.He watchedwith predatory vigilance as the Llondel sat forward and laid six-fingered hands upon theunconscious form of Maelgrim Dark-dreamer.Taen's brother did not flinch from the touch.The tissue of his brain had suffered massivedisruption, and internal bleeding impaired what bodily function remained.After thebriefest moment of rapport, the Llondelei lifted her hands and broke contact.She turnedbleak eyes upon the humans.'He dies the Gierj-death, this human enslaved by Shadow-fane.' Her thought-image cametinged with anger, a bitterness indefinably deep.Maelgrim's affliction resulted directlyfrom manipulation of a Gierj-circle.Demons at Shadowfane well understood theconsequences attached to such power; they ensnared humans in Sathid-bond expressly forthe purpose of manipulating Gierj-born forces without sacrificing one of their own.WhenaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rtheir victim collapsed from haemorrhage, a replacement could always be created, until thestore of stolen matrix was exhausted.The Llondel ended with a flourish of apology and sorrow.The crystals had come toKeithland with her kind; malicious creatures from Shadowfane had plundered the heritageof the Llondelei young expressly to engineer betrayals such as Emien's, and before him,Merya Tathagres'.The Kielmark's grip tightened on his weapon.Taen sat with her face in her hands; Jaric'sarm tightened around her shoulder.But the Stormwarden raised a face turned bleak as midwinter.His voice reflected nogentleness.'Why should the Dark-dreamer's Gierj desert, when plainly the plans ofShadowfane's demons were incomplete?'The Llondel whistled affirmation.Her thought-imagequalified, showing a smooth, spherical object that drifted at the height of a man's shoulder.Harder than rock, and defended by deadly nets of force, the thing wakened slowly tosentience.In future time, energies sparked and flared beneath its surface; Gierjlings thatwere its natural servants banded together and invaded Keithland, to ravage and conquer.Under their rightful overlord, their power for destruction knew no limit.Even the compactat Shadowfane feared the network of forces that the Gierj might sing into being.TheLlondel finished with a spoken name, Morrigierj, never before mentioned among men.Anskiere frowned.Then the Landfast archives were inaccurate, and the Vaere misled.NoMorrigierj was ever listed among Kor's Accursed.'The Llondel whistled a minor seventh.'Surely the records kept by men are limited.Wherethere are Gierj, a Morrigierj will eventually develop to focus them.But the creature takesmany scores of centuries to mature.Perhaps your forebears did not know.'The comment met with silence.That a threat might exist more grave than the existingpower of the compact was a concept that defeated hope.Only Taen thought one step further, to a purpose that all but undid her with dread
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]