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consider, is it not?" He was truly amused. "Oh, aye, UUith is a dutiful
sister she serves me very well- And when Alaric wed a Cheysuli woman, it was
Lillith who suggested the children or child be made to serve as well."
"Not GiseUa. GiseUa is Cheysulir
He made a dismissive gesture. "Cheysuli, Ihlini do you think it really
matters? We were bora of identical parents, the gods who made Homana." He
lifted a si-
lencing hand. "Cheysuli, aye, she is, and therefore immune to much of our
power, but there are tricks that can be taught. Beliefs that can be instilled.
Loyalties that are secured. I warned you, NiaU. That night in Mujhara when
your horse had gone lame ... I warned you not to wed her." How he watched me,
gloating silently. "But you did and so I devised another plan."
"You wiU not harm my sons!"
"No, Niall. Of course not I have no wish to harm them; I only wish to use
them." He smiled. "And I shall.
One son upon the Lion, one son on the throne of Solinde.
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And answerable to me."
Alaric. Lillith. Varien. Even, I knew now, GiseUa. AU
serving Strahan's interests? Gods, but how tightly was I
bound. How helpless had be made me.
"GiseUa," I said aloud. "Gods, they are her sons!"
"But she has been mine since birth. My sister made her so."
For nothing everything for nothing "For nothingF
Overcome, I shouted aloud.
Strahan smiled as I shouted. "No. Not for nothing.
You believed in what you did. Some men never have anything to believe in." He
gestured toward the door.
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"Now, come with me. There is something I will show you."
He took me out of the tower into the bailey, and then ordered the gates swung
open. Before us lay the field of stinking smoke. The breath of Asar-Suti.
"There," he said, "lies your freedom, I think I will give it to you."
"I am not a fool," I began. "If you think I will believe that-"
"Then believe this." He held out something that dan-
gled on a chain. A tooth, capped with gold, and hanging from a thin golden
chain. I had had one of my own, before I threw it away at Serri's behest.
'Take it," he said, and put it into my hand.
I did not want it. I wanted nothing to do with it. And as he took his hand
away, I threw it into the smoke.
Strahan laughed. "I thought so. And now the beast is tree."
Out of the smoke and stench was born an Ihlini wolf.
His pelt was white, his eyes were blue; he looked a lot like me.
"Illusion," I said curtly.
"Was it illusion on the Crystal Isle when I slew Finn?"
Strahan asked. "Aye, you know the story how I slew
DonaFs uncle. Aye, I see you know it." He smiled.
"And do you recall what happened to his wolf?"
"Storr
"He
supposedly there is nothing left when an old Ur dies. But there was a little
left of Storr. Only a little tow teeth
and those I claimed for myself once your father and the
EUasian had gone. And with those four teeth I fashioned powerful magic with
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the aid of Asar-Suti powerful magic,
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Niall . . . enough to hide Varien's identity, of course
that is easily done . . . but also enough to raze Homana.
Enough to purge the land of all Cheysuli." He looked at the white wolf
wreathed in the breath of the god. "Illu-
sion. you say. Is he? I think not. I think he is the deliverance of Homana."
The Ihlini smiled as I looked at him sharply. "The plague is bom of wolves,
Niall. White wolves animals of legend and superstition. AU but one is dead
now, slain for the bounty offered, but now it does not matter. They have done
their work." He nodded at the
334
wolf who waited, cloaked in hissing steam. "Slay him, Niall, and you will end
the plague."
"Why?" I asked. "Why do you give me the answer?
Why do you give me the chance?"
He shrugged. "Enough have died already. I prefer to rule living subjects, when
I have made Homana mine."
"I do not believe you." I said.
Strahan looked at the wolf. "Go," he said. "Your task is incomplete. There are
Cheysuli in the world rid
Homana of them."
The wolf turned, ran, disappeared, even as I cried out.
"Go," Strahan told me. "You have knife, bow, sword.
It is up to you to stop him."
I thought, very briefly, of trying to slay Strahan in-
stead. But by then I would lose the wolf.
Strahan's smile was one of subtle triumph, but I saw speculation in his eyes.
"Your choice, Niall. Save your sons or save the Cheysuli." The smile grew.
"But which will you choose, I wonder? Gisella ... or the wolf?"
The chasm opened beneath my feet.
"Your sons ... or your race?"
I made my voice as steady and cold as I could. "I can make other sons."
Strahan laughed. "But how many on Gisella? How many who will claim the proper
blood the blood the prophecy requires?"
I stared after the running wolf. Without the Cheysuli, without Homana . . .
there is no need/or my sons. . . .
I ran.
First the wolf then Gisella
Gods, how I ran.
The stench filled my nostrils. Rising steam veiled my vision. I tasted the
tang of sulfur and bile.
I ran, threading my way through hissing vents and pud-
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%20Track%20Of%20The%20White%20Wolf%20(v%20UC).txt dles of steaming water,
trying always to see the wolf. But he was gone, made invisible, swallowed by
smoke and steam.
Serri! In the link I screamed for help, but the echoes remained unanswered.
The task was mine alone.
The ground roared. Vibration stirred my feet. Tongues of flame licked Ups of
stone; darted out from gaping mouths.
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335
I tripped, fell to one knee, thrust myself up again.
Hot water splattered my face.
I ran.
A shape loomed out of the steam, I ignored it until the shape reached out of
itself and tried to swat me down, like a man swatting a fly- I ducked, dodged,
nearly fell again as I gaped; the shape was made of stone.
Moving, stalking stone.
I ran. And as I ran, I coughed.
the breath of the god is foul
Scraping followed; the grate of stone on stone. The gurgle and belch of
sulfur; the hiss and roar of vomited steam. And through the smoke-smeared
distances I heard the howl of a wolf who sings for the love of it. For the joy
of being alive. But not the song of Serri; I know his voice too well. It was
the white Ihlini wolf; the demon in the pelt: singing his song of death.
The deathsong of my race.
Gods, how I ran
I was through the defile: out of heat I was thurst into cold. I shivered. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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