[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
attacking the Deforyans. Alucius waited until he could see one of the lower
pteridons swoop from the northwest.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He raised the heavy rifle, investing the bullet of the cartridge in the
chamber with darkness.
Crack!
The shot was true, and the pteridon shriveled, then tumbled out of the sky,
striking the grass to the west of Twenty-first Company with enough force that
the ground shook, even though the beast was a good half vingt away.
Flames flared into the sky, and a powerful gust of hot air swept across
Alucius.
Target those riders to the north! Longyl ordered. Fire!
Alucius forced himself to ignore the oncoming riders, waiting for the next
pteridon.
Once more, he concentrated and fired& and missed, as the pteridon wheeled just
as he squeezed the trigger. He fired again, and again. The fourth shot struck
the beast s wing, and it shuddered and slowed.
Alucius took the second rifle and forced himself to infuse the next bullet
with more darkness as he targeted the slow-moving blue-winged creature.
Still, it took two more shots before the pteridon and rider went down,
crashing into the edge of the western wing of the nomad forces.
The ensuing explosion scattered and maimed hundreds of nomads, but the
formation continued to tighten on the trapped Deforyans.
While Alucius was reloading both rifles, the third pteridon swooped, spraying
blue death across hundreds of Deforyans, and was back beyond range before
Alucius was ready.
Now what?
Both pteridons were circling higher than Alucius would have liked to shoot.
You have to try, sir! Longyl called. You have to!
Alucius took a deep breath, then raised the heavy rifle.
He fired four times, and missed.
Could he add Talent-power to the cartridges? He had to do something.
Carefully, oh so carefully, he visualized a long purple line from the chamber
through the muzzle and straight to the lower pteridon.
Crack!
Purple flared across his vision, and he blinked, his eyes watering.
A bluish purple fireball exploded, raining flames down on the nomads and
Deforyan Lancers below, but mostly on the nomads.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Alucius could barely see.
You can do it, sir! You have to do it! Longyl called.
Have to? Alucius swayed in the saddle, then deliberately changed rifles,
forcing himself to ignore the nomads who were riding toward Twenty-first
Company.
He had to get the last pteridon. The last one& somehow. The last pteridon was
even higher. He could manage& he could& he needed the same sort of darkness that
he had used to strangle the purple crystal of the Matrial.
Ever so slowly, Alucius raised the rifle, again extending that purplish line
of power, underlining it with the greenish darkness he had used against the
Page 147
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
crystal. Slowly, aiming, sighting, Aluciuswilled the bullet to strike the
pteridon carrying Aellyan Edyss, for the rider on that last pteridon could be
no other, even before he squeezed the trigger.
As green and black and purple flared across his eyes, leaving him momentarily
blind, as the bullet struck the pteridon with an impact that Alucius himself
felt, rocking back in his saddle, blue fire flared outward from the pteridon
and its rider in all directions.
As Alucius s vision cleared, silence covered the entire battlefield for a long
moment, and the silver-green sky above it, as though time itself had halted.
The pteridon seemed frozen, motionless, in the heavens, glimmering in the
white light of the midday sun.
Then& jagged shards of purpled black replaced the pteridon and rider, shards
that sprayed in all directions. Alucius stared, immobilized, as he could see
purple shards flying toward him, toward the troopers of Twenty-first Company
who had protected him, sheltered him, to allow him to strike at the pteridons.
He couldn t let the troopers die. He couldn t.
He tried to gather the sense of dark greenness, the shieldlike feeling that
went with it, but his thoughts were like molasses in winter, like glue already
hardening, and he could feel curtains of blue fire so hot that his hair was
crisping flaming around him.
Alucius made a last desperate effort to weld a shield of green around his
troopers, but a blast of air slammed into him, into Wildebeast. He could feel
them both toppling backward, and he was unable to get clear of the saddle.
As he was flattened by the blast, green did rise around him, a greenness
infused with blackness, a blackness that swept across him and carried him
away.
69
Northeast of Iron Stem, Iron Valleys
The two herders rodeon opposite sides of the flock, Wendra to the east and
just behind the lead nightrams, and Royalt to the west and to the rear of the
straggling ewes.
Wendra frowned, and her eyes lifted to the Aerlal Plateau. She shook her head.
For an instant, just an
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
instant, had the quartz crystal outcroppings flared green? She studied the
Plateau, but could not see any remnant of that greenish light if there had
been any green flare.
Then, as the darkness struck her, she reined up the gray gelding, her face
pale. She glanced at her hand, then stripped off the heavy herder s glove. The
black crystal of her ring remained alive, and she could sense the energy
there. But there was a sense of pain of agony.
For a time, she just looked at the crystal.
Wendra was still looking at it when Royalt turned his mount and rode around
the rear of the flock to join her.
Alucius? he asked.
Alucius& he s been hurt, or wounded, the brown-haired woman explained. I
thought there was a flash of green from the Plateau, and then I could feel the
darkness, but it was almost as though I d been burned.
Burned? Royalt s weathered face tightened into an expression of worry.
That s the way it felt like fire had washed over me. For a moment, I could
smell hair burning. Her lips tightened.
He s alive, though?
He is, she confirmed.
Just pray to the One Who Is, Royalt said slowly.
And the soarers, Wendra added.
You think he s a soarer s child?
He s always been one.
That s what Lucenda said. Royalt shook his head. Don t know about that, but
Page 148
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
it can t hurt.
Wendra glanced at the ring, warmer than it had been, and then slipped the
herders gloves back in place.
Her eyes lifted to the Aerial Plateau once more, and her lips moved, silently.
70
Alucius lay on a bed of blue flame,unable to move, and a dark-haired and
alabaster-skinned man with deep violet eyes stood over him, speaking in a
resonant voice. Alucius tried to make out the words, but their meaning eluded
him.
The man spoke again, patiently, and still his words meant nothing to Alucius.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]