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."I do not.And frankly I don't want to know.Andneither should you, sir.The assassin told the wizard he had another'contract' to fulfill.It is Trian's belief," Stephen added, turning toRees'ahn, "that this Hugh the Hand is a member of the Brotherhood."Rees'ahn frowned."A nefarious organization.We should make it one of our toppriorities, when peace is established, to wipe out that nest of vipers.You,sir." He turned to Haplo."Perhaps you could assist us in this undertaking.Iunderstand from our friend, the High Froman here, that your magic is quitepowerful."So Haplo had revealed his magical powers to the mensch.And from the way itlooked, the mensch were all quite taken with him.Revered him.As they should,of course, Marit was quick to allow but they should be revering him as theservant of the master, not the master.And now was the perfect opportunity forHaplo to inform them of Xar's coming.The Lord of the Nexus would rid theworld of this Brotherhood, whatever it might be.But Haplo was only shaking his head."I'm sorry.I can't help you.In anycase, I think my powers might have been overrated." He smiled down at Limbeck."Our friend here is a little nearsighted." "I saw it all," Limbeck insisted stubbornly."I saw you battle that evildragon-snake.You and Jarre.She whumped it with her ax." The dwarf swungvigorously through the motions."Then you jabbed it with your sword.Wham!Stabbed it in the eye.Blood all over the place.I saw it, King Stephen,"reiterated Limbeck.Unfortunately, he addressed Queen Anne, who had come up to stand beside herhusband.A female dwarf jabbed the male dwarf in the ribs."That's the king, Limbeck, you druz," she said, grabbing hold of Limbeck'sbeard and tugging on him until he faced the right direction.Limbeck was not in the least upset over the mistake."Thank you, Jarre, mydear," he said, smiling, and blinked benignly at the dog.The mensch's talk turned to other matters, to the war on Arianus.A combinedforce of humans and elves was attacking the island of Aristagon, battling anemperor and his followers who had taken refuge in a palace there.Marit wasn'tinterested in the doings of the mensch.She was far more interested in Haplo.He had gone suddenly gray; his own smile had slipped.His hand went to hisheart, as if his wound still pained him.He leaned back against the statue tomask his weakness.The dog, whining, crept to his side and pressed againstHaplo's leg.Marit knew then that Sang-drax had been telling the truth Haplo had beencritically wounded.Privately she had doubted it.She knew and respectedHaplo's ability; she had little use for the dragon-snake, who, as far as shecould tell, possessed minimal magical powers, perhaps in the same category asmensch.Certainly none as strong as Patryn magic.She could not see how such acreature could have inflicted a dire wound on Haplo.But she had no doubtsnow.She recognized the symptoms of a heart-rune injury, a blow that wouldstrike to the core of a Patryn's being.Difficult to heal alone.The mensch continued to talk, about how they would start up theKicksey-winsey, what would happen when they did.Haplo stood silent throughtheir conversation, stroking the dog's smooth head.Marit, not understandingthe discussion, only half-listened.This wasn't what she wanted to hear.Suddenly Haplo stirred and spoke, interrupting an involved explanation ofwhirley-gears and whump-rotors from the dwarf."Have you warned your people to take precautions?" Haplo was asking."According to what the Sartan wrote, the continents will begin to move oncethe Kicksey-winsey is activated.They'll move slowly, but they will move.Buildings could fall down.People might die of fright if they don't know whatis going on.""We've informed them," Stephen said."I've sent the King's Own to every partof our lands, carrying the news.Though whether the people will listen isanother matter.Half of them don't believe us, and the half who do have beentold by the barons that it's some sort of elven plot.There've been riotingand threats to depose me.And what will happen if this doesn't work." Theking's face darkened."Well, I don't like to think about that."Haplo shook his head, looked grave."I can't promise anything, Your Majesty.The Sartan intended to align the continents within a few years of theirsettling here.They planned to do so before the continents were even inhabited.But when their plans went wrong and they disappeared, theKicksey-winsey kept on working and building and repairing itself but withoutany guidance.Who knows but that during this time it may have done someirreparable damage to itself?"The only thing in our favor is this: down through the generations, thedwarves have continued to do exactly what the Sartan taught them to do.Thedwarves have never deviated from their original instructions, but passed themon religiously from father to son, mother to daughter.And so the dwarves havenot only kept the Kicksey-winsey alive, but they've kept it from runningamuck, so to speak.""It's all.so strange," said Stephen with a distrustful glance at theglimmerglamps and the catwalks and the hooded silent figure of the Sartan,holding a dark eyeball in its hand."Strange and terrifying.I don'tunderstand any of it.""In fact," Queen Anne added quietly, "my husband and I are beginning to wonderif we haven't made a mistake.Perhaps we should just let the world go along asit is.We've gotten on well enough before now.""But we haven't," Limbeck argued."Your two races have fought wars over waterfor as long as any of you can remember.Elf fought elf.Human fought human.Then we all fought each other and came close to destroying everything we have.I may not be able to see anything else clearly, but I can see this.If we'veno need to fight over water, we've got a chance to find true peace."Limbeck fished about in his coat, came out with a small object, and held itup."I have this the book of the Sartan.Haplo gave it to me.He and I havegone over it.We believe the machine will work, but we can't guarantee it.Thebest I can say is that if anything does start to go wrong, we can always shutthe Kicksey-winsey down and then see if we can fix it.""What about you, Prince?" Stephen turned to Rees'ahn."What about your people?What do they think?""The Kenkari have informed them that drawing the continents together is thewill of Krenka-Anris.No one would dare oppose the Kenkari openly at least,"the prince said with a rueful smile."Our people are prepared.We have alreadystarted to evacuate the cities.The only ones we have not been able to warnare the emperor and those holed up in the Imperanon with him.They refuse toallow the Kenkari inside; they have even fired arrows at them, which has neverhappened in all the history of our people.My father is undoubtedly mad."Rees'ahn's face hardened."I have little sympathy for him.He murdered his ownpeople to obtain their souls.But there are those inside the Imperanon who areinnocent of wrongdoing, who support him out of misguided loyalty.I wish therewas some way of warning them.But they refuse to talk to us even under a flagof truce.They'll have to take their chances.""You're all agreed to do this, then?" Haplo asked, looking at each in turn.Rees'ahn said he was.Limbeck's beard wagged in hearty enthusiasm.Stephenlooked at his queen, who hesitated, then nodded once, briefly
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Tematy
IndexAnne Tracy Warren 03 Ostatnia kochanka
Weis & Hickman Deathgate Cycle 01 Dragon Wing
Osobowoœć lidera Tracy Brian
Weis Margaret, Hickman Tracy Kroniki Smoczej Lancy 03 Smoki wiosennego Âœwitu
Miles Rosalind Ja, Elzbieta t.2
Knight Harry Adam Pochodnia
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