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three Llondelei clustered around what ap-peared to be a wooden tub filled with
hot water. Through the steam which drifted and coiled above the rim, he saw a
dark,wet head, and the flushed features of the girl whose memory had haunted
him since the moment they parted at Landfast.
"Jaric?" Taen's voice was weak, but tinged with unmistak-able reproach,
"Corley said if you followedMoonless from theFree Isles, he'd skin you with
the dullest of his knives."
"Well, he didn't. After four weeks of worry over you,every blade onMoonless
had an edge that would split a cat's
whisker." Astonished by the tightness in his throat, Jaricrushed to embrace
her. Quickly as he moved, the demonsreacted first. One behind caught him by
the shoulder andyanked him back, while two in front sprang to their feet
andcaught his hands. Spread-eagled and helpless, Jaric struggledto reach Taen;
but Llondelei thought-forms hammered his pro-test to silence.
'Neveryou touch , not now.'The command was qualifiedwith an impression of his
inner self perpetually locked into sympathy with Taen's powers as Dreamweaver.
Jaric saw hispotential as Firelord's heir rendered impotent at a
stroke,allbecause he had ignorantly embraced the Dreamweaver beforeher illness
left her.Llondian images detailed a ruinous se-quence of catastrophes which
mankind could suffer as a result:cities burned, refugees starved, and
civilized Keithlandcrushed before an onslaught of demon foes.
Released with a suddenness that jarred thought, Jaric stum-bled to his knees.
Shaken, afraid to rise, he searched thedemons' inscrutable eyes. Then, rubbing
a cut where a spurhad accidentally scored his wrist, he appealed at last to
Taen."I don't understand."
"How could you?" A trace of an impish grin touched herlips. "I don't guess
the mysteries of the Vaere are part of theLandfast archives."
"No." Jaric responded to a prod from the demon at hisback, and seated himself
on a mat at Taen's side. Though the glistening skin of her shoulder was close
enough to touch, he clenched his hands tightly in his lap.
"The Vaere were desperate when Cliffhaven was endan-gered by demons. I was
sent to intervene," Taen said. "At thetime, my Dreamweaver's mastery was
incomplete."
But Jaric knew she left out details to spare him. Taen hadbeen dispatched to
Cliffhaven to preserve his own life from the combined effects of Anskiere's
geas and the Kielmark'sunpredictable temperament. Against the will of the
Vaere, she had stayed on and engaged her talents in Cliffhaven's defenseso
that he could recover the Keys to Elrinfaer in safety. An- guished that Taen's
suffering had begun with disobedience in his behalf, Jaric covered his face
with callused palms.
"Ivainson, no, you can't blame yourself!" Taen rested her cheek against the
rim of the basin. Wearied by the inadequacyof speech, she engaged her craft as
Dreamweaver.
Her thoughts touched Jane's mind as softly as a falling
leaf. Gently she made him share an understanding she hadonly recently
acquired through the Llondel who cured her ill-ness. The powers of the
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Vaere-trained were created througha bond with a living matrix called Sathid.
Upon maturity,the crystals caused an incompatibility with the body,
whichdeveloped into a coma. At that time, the crystals wouldprocreate by
transforming the living tissues of the body intoseed-matrix. Death was the
usual result. Yet since Llondeleialso derived their imaging abilities from
Sathid bonding,they knew ways to separate the mature crystal from the
bodywithout harm. The process was easily disturbed; physicalcontact at the
wrong moment could cause the matrix tocross-link, augment the imprint of a
second mind alongsidethat of the first master.
Demon thought-forms defined the matter further. Sweptinto an explanation of
dreams, Jaric observed that the Storm-warden of Elrinfaer's formidable control
of wind and wave derived from two Sathid matrixes. The crystals formed
thefoundation of his powers, and to protect them from enemy meddling, he sank
them in a capsule beneath the polar ocean. Driven beyond the icy deeps, the
boy traversed a series of interlinking associations called forth by Llondian
conscious-ness. In a whirl of past events, he saw enemies march
fromShadowfane. They murdered Llondelei guardians and stole the last of their
native stock of Sathid matrix. The crystals werepure, never having bonded
previously; no others could replace them, except on Homeworld under the
scarlet star. Once re-turned to Shadowfane, hostile hands experimented with
thematrix and discovered what Llondelei always knew. At thetime of separation,
Sathid crystals could bond again; any who attempted to share the influence of
an impressed matrix risked total subjugation to the will of the original
partner. And since the matrix itself inherited the experience of each
successive master, the crystal itself grew stronger, wiser; it, too,
mightcontend for mastery. Thus had Jaric nearly destroyed a balance when he
tried to touch Taen, and thus did the compact at Shadowfane create pawns to
commit atrocities againstman-kind.
Freed from the imaging, Jaric recalled the caustic burnswhich had disfigured
Emien's hands since the hour he had murdered his mistress, Tathagres. Abruptly
he rememberedTaen's presence. He stopped his speculation, but not before the
Dreamweaver caught the direction of his thoughts.
"My brother stands in grave danger. The Llondelei knowTathagres served
Shadowfane. She carried Sathid already im-pressed by demons in a collar of
wrought gold. Though the witch herself was not matrix-linked, the enemy
controlled her by the crystal's influence. Through her they channeled
theirdesigns against Anskiere and Cliffhaven. But when Emien broke the band
from her neck, the matrix contacted his skin.Very likely he will succumb to
direct possession. Any talenthe has could be developed to the detriment of our
kind."
Jaric felt the breath constrict in his throat. For a suspendedinterval he
studied Taen's face through the steam whichclouded the tub. The girl's eyes
showed fatigue, their color shadowed under lashes like ink; but her expression
reflectedconcern rather than grief. As yet she seemed unaware that Emien was
held captive at Shadowfane. Dry fingers brushedJaric's arm. He started and
found a Llondel crouched at hisshoulder.
'Once, she saw,'sent the demon. Its touch intensified inhis mind.'The girl
received the image in delirium, and for thesake of health, we let her believe
she experienced a night-mare. But she cannot be kept ignorant much
longer.'Slittednostrils flared; and drawing the boy into sympathy, the crea-
ture inclined its head toward the Dreamweaver.
Jaric beheld the chamber and its inhabitants through thealtered perception of
Llondian eyes. Candlelight threw off a hurtful, greenish cast; and Taen's
person shimmered with theblue-violet aura which accompanied the maturing
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presence ofa Sathid bond. Its pattern radiated changeless and clean as light
refracted through dewdrops at dawn, then vanished,blotted into darkness by a
second view of the black-haired captive huddled within Shadowfane's walls. In
contrast, the patterns emanating from Emien's formgleamed an angry scar-let,
contorted as a hillwoman's knotwork.
The image faded away. Subjected to the expectant regardof the Llondelei,
Jaric realized the demons expected him tointervene. Logic demanded that he
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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