[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
no idea what happened after I took to my bed, or even what transpired outside
the Citadel cavern.
It is just as well that the Kin are prepared to do without food for
long periods, so long as we remain inactive. Once my illness became known and
I closed the door to the corridor, there was not a soul alive, who would have
been willing to help me. Not that I blame them, given the mortality rate of
this disease.
When I recovered from my long fever-dream, it was to a silent world.
I mustered the last of my strength, and sought the storerooms, hungry enough
to have eaten my very books, and too weak to have chewed the pages!
But there was food there; in fact, there were more than enough
journey-packs to see me through the initial few days of my recovery. I dragged
Page 188
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
them literally, for I could not lift them, I, who once flew with entire
fork-horns in my claws back to my room. I did not even have the strength to
shift my shape! Three of the hard cakes of journey-bread are soaking now; and
it is all I can do to keep from snatching them up and trying to eat themright
now . Try, for that would be all Icould do; I am too weak even to pound a
piece off to suck on.
I have propped the door open, hoping to hear someone stirring in the
far reaches of the Citadel, but there is nothing. I suppose I should be glad,
for it means that the elven lords have not found or been shown our last hiding
place. But I cannot be glad, for I keep wondering about all those companions
who built the rebellion with me, and who remained true to its ideals when
others fell prey to ambition and greed.
What happened to them? Lasen Orvad, Jeof Lenger, Resa Sheden, where
are you? Do you live, did the illness claim you as it did so many others or
did you escape the fever only to fall into the hands of our enemies?
Yes,our enemies, my friends. Though I am not of your blood, and
though I came to this enterprise intending only to amuse myself, I came to
believe in it, and in you. When I called you my friends, I meant it. And your
enemies are mine, for as long as I live, and that will be long, indeed. I
shall not let your dream die, if I am permitted to continue.
Three days later: I do not know the real date, for I have no notion
how long I lay in fever. A very long time, I think, for dust was over
everything, and the journey-bread was stale. Some of my friends escaped, I
know now, for I found notes to that effect in their rooms. Though what became
of them after they left the safety of the Citadel, I do not know.
I, too, shall escape as soon as I am able. I am afraid that any of
the halfblood who returned and found me here would assume I was a traitor. It
was known that I had the fever, and I think that any who survived it would
likely be suspected to be in the pay and care of the elven lords. Without
magic or a draconic constitution I cannot see how anyonecould survive it.
There are three tunnels I might use. I shall check all of them, and
use the best of the three. If luck is with me, I will emerge in the
wilderness, and there I will be, able to resume my natural form and rejoin the
Kin. If it is not
But I will not think of that. One day, if I can, I will return and
reclaim this journal of the war. If not, it will be a puzzle for whoever finds
it. They will surely think it is in some kind of code. I wish them luck in
deciphering it!
There the page ended, and the rest of the seventh and last book was
blank. Whatever had happened to-the dragon-wizard after that passage, he had
not recorded it in his book.
Shana closed the book with a feeling of frustration, put it down on
the chest beside her bed, and lay back down, staring at the ceiling as she
thought. The globe of mage-light burned steadily, without flickering, as the
lights Alara had placed in their lair did, and as did the elven lords' glowing
ceilings; unlike the firelight, candles, and lanterns humans made do with.
How much were the halfbloods like their elven fathers, and how little
like their human mothers, at least in power? And how very much like the Kin.
The fate of Kalama gnawed at her. She had the feeling that his fate
Page 189
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
held the keys to hers. If only she knew more! If only she knew at least what
had happened to him after he locked his books away and left his rooms for the
last time!
Well, now she certainly knew why the Kin shape-shifted. It seemed
that their primary form of amusement was to manipulate the elves and their
human slaves and see how they would react. And that, indeed, was how Kalama
had begun his career.
Her head swam at the thought of all the ways in which the Kin
could and doubtless, did interfere with elven lives, and so with the humans
under their rule. Some did so for sheer amusement. Some did so to test
themselves.
But some like Kalama began for the sake of entertainment, but
continued because they saw a great wrong being done, and decided to help do
something about it.
She thought that she would probably like Kalama a great deal, if only
she could meet him. He sounded a lot like Keman, with his ideas of what was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
no idea what happened after I took to my bed, or even what transpired outside
the Citadel cavern.
It is just as well that the Kin are prepared to do without food for
long periods, so long as we remain inactive. Once my illness became known and
I closed the door to the corridor, there was not a soul alive, who would have
been willing to help me. Not that I blame them, given the mortality rate of
this disease.
When I recovered from my long fever-dream, it was to a silent world.
I mustered the last of my strength, and sought the storerooms, hungry enough
to have eaten my very books, and too weak to have chewed the pages!
But there was food there; in fact, there were more than enough
journey-packs to see me through the initial few days of my recovery. I dragged
Page 188
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
them literally, for I could not lift them, I, who once flew with entire
fork-horns in my claws back to my room. I did not even have the strength to
shift my shape! Three of the hard cakes of journey-bread are soaking now; and
it is all I can do to keep from snatching them up and trying to eat themright
now . Try, for that would be all Icould do; I am too weak even to pound a
piece off to suck on.
I have propped the door open, hoping to hear someone stirring in the
far reaches of the Citadel, but there is nothing. I suppose I should be glad,
for it means that the elven lords have not found or been shown our last hiding
place. But I cannot be glad, for I keep wondering about all those companions
who built the rebellion with me, and who remained true to its ideals when
others fell prey to ambition and greed.
What happened to them? Lasen Orvad, Jeof Lenger, Resa Sheden, where
are you? Do you live, did the illness claim you as it did so many others or
did you escape the fever only to fall into the hands of our enemies?
Yes,our enemies, my friends. Though I am not of your blood, and
though I came to this enterprise intending only to amuse myself, I came to
believe in it, and in you. When I called you my friends, I meant it. And your
enemies are mine, for as long as I live, and that will be long, indeed. I
shall not let your dream die, if I am permitted to continue.
Three days later: I do not know the real date, for I have no notion
how long I lay in fever. A very long time, I think, for dust was over
everything, and the journey-bread was stale. Some of my friends escaped, I
know now, for I found notes to that effect in their rooms. Though what became
of them after they left the safety of the Citadel, I do not know.
I, too, shall escape as soon as I am able. I am afraid that any of
the halfblood who returned and found me here would assume I was a traitor. It
was known that I had the fever, and I think that any who survived it would
likely be suspected to be in the pay and care of the elven lords. Without
magic or a draconic constitution I cannot see how anyonecould survive it.
There are three tunnels I might use. I shall check all of them, and
use the best of the three. If luck is with me, I will emerge in the
wilderness, and there I will be, able to resume my natural form and rejoin the
Kin. If it is not
But I will not think of that. One day, if I can, I will return and
reclaim this journal of the war. If not, it will be a puzzle for whoever finds
it. They will surely think it is in some kind of code. I wish them luck in
deciphering it!
There the page ended, and the rest of the seventh and last book was
blank. Whatever had happened to-the dragon-wizard after that passage, he had
not recorded it in his book.
Shana closed the book with a feeling of frustration, put it down on
the chest beside her bed, and lay back down, staring at the ceiling as she
thought. The globe of mage-light burned steadily, without flickering, as the
lights Alara had placed in their lair did, and as did the elven lords' glowing
ceilings; unlike the firelight, candles, and lanterns humans made do with.
How much were the halfbloods like their elven fathers, and how little
like their human mothers, at least in power? And how very much like the Kin.
The fate of Kalama gnawed at her. She had the feeling that his fate
Page 189
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
held the keys to hers. If only she knew more! If only she knew at least what
had happened to him after he locked his books away and left his rooms for the
last time!
Well, now she certainly knew why the Kin shape-shifted. It seemed
that their primary form of amusement was to manipulate the elves and their
human slaves and see how they would react. And that, indeed, was how Kalama
had begun his career.
Her head swam at the thought of all the ways in which the Kin
could and doubtless, did interfere with elven lives, and so with the humans
under their rule. Some did so for sheer amusement. Some did so to test
themselves.
But some like Kalama began for the sake of entertainment, but
continued because they saw a great wrong being done, and decided to help do
something about it.
She thought that she would probably like Kalama a great deal, if only
she could meet him. He sounded a lot like Keman, with his ideas of what was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]