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.txt this truthmyself but that--yes, you guessed correctly: I'm being pestered by hideouslypersuasive dreams such as I haven't known since long beforeI came to Castle Thorn.And fever due to the onset of the plague would bestexplain that.""I think I must believe the same," Jing muttered."Oh, no! You of all people! No, you must survive! It would be unbearable tothink that the greatest discoverer of our age must be struck down randomly!Far better you should escape to tell the world your tale!""But I've kept company with Qat," Jing said stonily."Out of nostalgia, I'vespent half-days at a time talking with him and neglecting my own greater duty.Miraculously I believe Rainbow still to be unaffected.She and the child shebuds must go away and take our reports.Might I beg38THE CRUCIBLE OF TIMEyou to attend her before you continue with other matters?""Yes! Yes, certainly! But I must warn you that nothing I say or do can alteran established fact.She may already--""I know there's a risk.I want to diminish it.We'll buy the steersman of thenext barq, give him all my pearlseeds so he can make for the great ocean andfind one of the monster barqs that legend says can ply across it to anothercontinent.""Legend? You want to trust in legends now? Surely you must after all beafflicted!""I speak out of imagination rather than dream--though the two sometimes becomeso intermingled.Yes, I think there's no alternative.In one of the visionswhich haunted me this morning, I saw the bravetrees of Forb rotting from thebase wherever a corpse had been deposited.Whatfile:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt (70 of 557)[2/14/2004 12:25:07 AM]file:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt manner ofsickness can attack trees as well as people?"Page 44 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"A new kind," Twig said slowly."As new as the New Star?""Ah, but it was only a dream-guess!""I think we'll see the same when the first victims die at Castle Thorn."Clenching his claws, ling added as he turned away, "I wish with all my mightit may just be a dream.But I fear it may well be correct imagining.The blight upon our trencher-plants, at any rate, is real enough."IXWhen next they heaved the Count out of his sitting-pit to cleanse and salvehim, there were the betraying sacs beneath his skin.And they were readilyrecognized, for a girl at one of the outlying villages who had partnered theboy from Ntah had died from their inward rupturing that very day.Instantly the sacerdotes announced that this was the doom pronounced by theMaker against anyone who harbored heretics from foreign lands, and in the gripof the fever which preceded the visible outbreak of sores the peasants forgotwhat those same sacerdotes had been saying only days earlier about confrontingthe risk of plague with boldness.Keepfire managed to prevent his family andfollowers from being deluded; from one of the confusing visions that now besethim, part sane imagination and part lunatic dream, Jing almost extracted aclue concerning life below the massive layers of rock that sheltered Twig'slaboratory, but it evaded him at last because he cared more about the survivalof his wife and child.For a little it seemed that Hedge and Bush were certain to escape, which wouldhave dealt a logical blow to the sacerdotes' argument, especially since Twig'ssole ulcer had burst outward and his cleanlickers proved able to deal with it.All three had been particularly close with Jing, and it wasTHE FIRE IS Lit39file:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt (71 of 557)[2/14/2004 12:25:07 AM]file:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txtbeing claimed that associating with the Ntahans was the key to guilt and theMaker's punishment.But the day came when Bush succumbed, and admitted contactwith the Ntahish girl, and a frenzy of hate exploded like one of the geysersthat snowbelong-hunters reported far to the north."On the way to the observatory they set their canifangs at me," Rainbow said."Only Sturdy's quickness with his prong prevented me from being badly hurt."They sat in her bower, high in the castle and well defended, at a time whennormally the night would be quiet but for distant icefaw screams and maybe alittle music
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Tematy
IndexJohn Ringo Ghost 01 Ghost
John Norman Gor 04 Nomads of Gor
John Norman Gor 01 Tarnsman of Gor
John Norman Gor 23 Renegades of Gor
John DeChancie Castle 07 Castle Spellbound
John Norman Gor 12 Beasts of Gor
John Dalmas Farside 01 The Lion of Farside
Weis & Hickman Deathgate Cycle 01 Dragon Wing
Chmurdalia Joanna Bator
Margit Sandemo Cykl Saga o Ludziach Lodu (46) Woda zła