[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

we made love or fought side-by-side at Hethlas Rim.
That is why I cannot be King. I cannot watch over Aventuria while my loved
ones' faces hang in the way, screaming and dying in front of me. Even my
father's. For I loved my father, too, despite all he did. Hated him, yet loved
him.
'A violation of the Goddess's own being, is it not, to take life when the
death is undeserved? But if I
am not a violator, I am the son of one and I can't feel the roth of the Homed
God running through me, whole and vigorous; I can only feel this darkness,
this trickle of black madness from my father.
'That's why I never wanted to come back here, and yet, that is why I'm glad I
did. I have lost you and now I don't want to fight my fate. I'm guilty. Let
them punish me and then it will be over, all debts paid.
Strong? No, I am not strong. I'm simply resigned.
'Helan, I wish you all the love and strength and good fortune in the world.
All the love I gave you will stay with you always, and ...'
He stopped writing and raised his head. A sound disturbed him, a weird
scratching, slithering noise.
Rats? At first he thought he imagined it. Then it grew louder, oddly piercing,
irritating, like something sharp moving inside the rock itself.
He had heard that sound before.
Eldareth put down his pen and stood up. The bottom row of stones around the
walls jutted out, so he could find a toehold on them and raise himself up to
Page 154
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
look through the tiny window. There was little to be seen; just sky. Now it
was dark so all he could see was blackness, while chill air and raindrops blew
on to his cheeks. The ground lay three storeys below.
The sound was outside and yet also inside. Crawling, scratching. Right by his
ear and yet no sign of what could be causing it...
A face was suddenly thrust into his, making him bite back a shout of terror.
He lost his footing and stumbled down on to the floor. The dim light of the
candle glanced on a small face with silver-grey skin, black eyes, a fall of
black hair standing stiffly from its skull with blue streaks in the blackness.
Eldareth was violently wrenched out of reverie.
'Vranof?' he gasped.
The Zampherai warrior squeezed through the window and clung to the sill, his
hands appearing to sink into the stone rather than rest on it. A wiry figure
no more than two feet tall, flesh the colour of pewter, blue crystals dangling
over his loins and chest. His demeanour was fierce, but he was a friend of
sorts.
'Hush,' said the Zampherai. 'We're here to get you out.'
'How. ..?'
Another Subterranean face appeared in the embrasure. This one was rounder,
gentler, the black eyes deep as caves, the hair soft as sable with no bright
colours in it. A Zampherai of a different tribe.
'Orque!' said Eldareth. 'What is this?'
'Elrill called us.' Orque answered. He and Vranof had once been enemies, but
Eldareth wasn't wholly surprised to see them together.
'Fortunately for him, we were not far away,' Vranof added.
Eldareth put his hands to his head in disbelief. 'Still following us?'
'Always. Where you go, things change. We feel the echoes of it in the crystals
of the earth. Now, your friends are waiting below and we are here to take you
to them. Be ready!'
Vranof and Orque worked at the window-ledge with bare hands, driving their
fingers into cracks between the blocks of stone as if into cheese, sending
pressure waves along the lines of tension deep inside the rock. Eldareth
stared.
'Wait!' he hissed. 'I don't know that I want this.'
Vranof paused, frowning. 'You don't want to be free?'
'What good would it do? They will only pursue me and bring me back, and then
my friends will be in trouble for helping me. I've resigned myself to my
punishment; I can't change the course of it now.'
The Zampherai warrior looked disgusted. 'Can't change your course?' he said.
'You're resigned to giving up, to dying? Then you do not deserve your friends'
loyalty!'
'Look at these walls,' Orque added. They have soaked up centuries of dark
roths, floating gauroth energies of pain and despair that emanated from all
the prisoners who have been incarcerated here. You are soaking them up. That's
why you are paralysed to the point of death!'
'No. This is my own pain.'
'Soaking them up, and adding to them,' Vranof said acidly. 'You're coming with
us, even if you force us to bind you hand and foot! Think of your friends. If
you delay, they will be caught.'
Eldareth knew that he was right, yet the situation still didn't seem real. He
took a deep breath of the cold, damp air. Then there was a resounding crack,
and the stones began to split.
'Stand back!' said Vranof.
He'd seen the Zampherai do this before, destroying a section of wall at the
outer gate of the Amber
Citadel so Helananthe and her troops could enter. Eldareth stepped back
quickly. The edge of the embrasure began to sway and then a whole section of
the wall fell suddenly inwards, narrowly missing his legs. The noise was
Page 155
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
tremendous; a ragged hole yawned open on to the rainy night. There were three
seconds of taut, echoing silence; then he heard the shouts of other prisoners,
guards' booted feet pounding along the corridor.
'Quickly!' said Orque from the ruined wall, holding out a hand.
The shock of the crash and the blades of cold air piercing his lungs brought
Eldareth suddenly back to life. In this moment his own fate didn't matter, but [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]