[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
years, we'll eventually find a way out. This - this will be the end of us.
Both of us!"
Now Dughall's voice was sad. "I know." He resisted Luercas's increasingly
frantic attempts to break the mirror-ball and cast a spell that would create
an escape for the two of them; he buffered the mirror-ball with every drop of
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strength he had and every drop of magic the collective souls of the
Falcons could feed him. And he held them steady, in the path of the
approaching hunter. The energy that fed into the two of them burned ever
brighter, drawing the mindless devourer to them all the more certainly.
"I know I'll cease to exist. But the tools of the gods are often broken in
service - and I will serve.
You've cared nothing for the uncounted souls you've devoured. And with your
destruction, your evil will stop."
Luercas suddenly stopped struggling. He began snapping the ties that bound him
to all his captive souls. "If we go dark, it won't notice us," he said. "It's
drawn to our energy. Just send that spell of yours past us and let us release
our strength and hide in darkness. It isn't too late. We can save ourselves."
The light the two of them cast began to dim as he broke away from soul after
captured soul.
"It was too late when you decided that you would pay for immortality in the
world of the flesh with the souls of others. In that instant, the gods
themselves cast lots against you. And I was chosen to be the vehicle of your
destruction."
"At the price of your own immortality? Let me go, Dughall. Let us both go -
make the bastards who chose you to die come after me themselves. You have my
word - I'll never touch you or yours again.
My word - sworn on my soul."
"No. I accept my fate."
"Why?" Luercas screamed. The nightmare was almost upon them. "Why would you
accept oblivion?"
Dughall was quiet, watching the immense, dark shape gliding toward them.
"Why?"
"Because I love them," Dughall said, realizing in that moment that it was
true. "I love all of them. It was Solander's final gift to me, that I would
know what it meant to truly love - to love every living thing with all my
soul."
"What gods could claim to love you and send you to oblivion?"
"No gods could make me do this. I was their chosen sword, but I alone strike
the blow that will end you. That is the Falcon way - at the final moment, we
can offer only ourselves, and only if we give ourselves freely."
They were a small, dim sun by that time. In the merest fraction of a heartbeat
that had passed since Luercas first sensed the presence of the soul-eater and
began trying to hide, he had broken free from all the souls with which he had
fed his body.
Alone, without the strength he had stolen from others, Luercas was weak,
Dughall realized. Weak enough that Dughall might hope to trap him within a
soul-mirror and so save himself - but Luercas had spoken truly when he'd said
that, given time, he would find a way to escape.
The decision of the gods was final - had to be final. Luercas had committed
the only crime for which there could be no forgiveness. And the only way
Dughall could be certain that the justice of the gods was meted out was to
stay with Luercas and hold him until the soul-eater devoured them both.
So he held fast while the coldness and utter lightlessness of the hunter
between the worlds descended on him, maw gaping.
He thought of life - of sunlight and the warmth of summer evenings in the
Imumbarran Isles. In his last remaining instants, he remembered the sounds of
laughter in the streets, the touch of lips against his cheek, the way his
first daughter's hand had felt when, newborn, she gripped his finger and
looked into his eyes. Their souls had known each other always, he realized.
Their time together had been a gift. He remembered Galweigh House, and the
struggles of the Falcons to bring love to the city of Calimekka. He thought of
Kait and Ry, and saw for just an instant the battles that still lay ahead of
them - a lifetime of struggling, endless chances for defeat, a single path
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
that might, if they were strong and faithful, lead them to triumph. But
through the struggles they would have each other . . . and when it was all
over, they would have forever.
He had given them that chance. The chance to struggle, the chance to live. The
chance, at last, to rejoin the gods.
"Let me go!" Luercas screamed. "Let me go"
Dughall blended himself more completely with Luercas and held fast. "Vodor
Imrish," he prayed, "I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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years, we'll eventually find a way out. This - this will be the end of us.
Both of us!"
Now Dughall's voice was sad. "I know." He resisted Luercas's increasingly
frantic attempts to break the mirror-ball and cast a spell that would create
an escape for the two of them; he buffered the mirror-ball with every drop of
Page 182
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
strength he had and every drop of magic the collective souls of the
Falcons could feed him. And he held them steady, in the path of the
approaching hunter. The energy that fed into the two of them burned ever
brighter, drawing the mindless devourer to them all the more certainly.
"I know I'll cease to exist. But the tools of the gods are often broken in
service - and I will serve.
You've cared nothing for the uncounted souls you've devoured. And with your
destruction, your evil will stop."
Luercas suddenly stopped struggling. He began snapping the ties that bound him
to all his captive souls. "If we go dark, it won't notice us," he said. "It's
drawn to our energy. Just send that spell of yours past us and let us release
our strength and hide in darkness. It isn't too late. We can save ourselves."
The light the two of them cast began to dim as he broke away from soul after
captured soul.
"It was too late when you decided that you would pay for immortality in the
world of the flesh with the souls of others. In that instant, the gods
themselves cast lots against you. And I was chosen to be the vehicle of your
destruction."
"At the price of your own immortality? Let me go, Dughall. Let us both go -
make the bastards who chose you to die come after me themselves. You have my
word - I'll never touch you or yours again.
My word - sworn on my soul."
"No. I accept my fate."
"Why?" Luercas screamed. The nightmare was almost upon them. "Why would you
accept oblivion?"
Dughall was quiet, watching the immense, dark shape gliding toward them.
"Why?"
"Because I love them," Dughall said, realizing in that moment that it was
true. "I love all of them. It was Solander's final gift to me, that I would
know what it meant to truly love - to love every living thing with all my
soul."
"What gods could claim to love you and send you to oblivion?"
"No gods could make me do this. I was their chosen sword, but I alone strike
the blow that will end you. That is the Falcon way - at the final moment, we
can offer only ourselves, and only if we give ourselves freely."
They were a small, dim sun by that time. In the merest fraction of a heartbeat
that had passed since Luercas first sensed the presence of the soul-eater and
began trying to hide, he had broken free from all the souls with which he had
fed his body.
Alone, without the strength he had stolen from others, Luercas was weak,
Dughall realized. Weak enough that Dughall might hope to trap him within a
soul-mirror and so save himself - but Luercas had spoken truly when he'd said
that, given time, he would find a way to escape.
The decision of the gods was final - had to be final. Luercas had committed
the only crime for which there could be no forgiveness. And the only way
Dughall could be certain that the justice of the gods was meted out was to
stay with Luercas and hold him until the soul-eater devoured them both.
So he held fast while the coldness and utter lightlessness of the hunter
between the worlds descended on him, maw gaping.
He thought of life - of sunlight and the warmth of summer evenings in the
Imumbarran Isles. In his last remaining instants, he remembered the sounds of
laughter in the streets, the touch of lips against his cheek, the way his
first daughter's hand had felt when, newborn, she gripped his finger and
looked into his eyes. Their souls had known each other always, he realized.
Their time together had been a gift. He remembered Galweigh House, and the
struggles of the Falcons to bring love to the city of Calimekka. He thought of
Kait and Ry, and saw for just an instant the battles that still lay ahead of
them - a lifetime of struggling, endless chances for defeat, a single path
Page 183
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
that might, if they were strong and faithful, lead them to triumph. But
through the struggles they would have each other . . . and when it was all
over, they would have forever.
He had given them that chance. The chance to struggle, the chance to live. The
chance, at last, to rejoin the gods.
"Let me go!" Luercas screamed. "Let me go"
Dughall blended himself more completely with Luercas and held fast. "Vodor
Imrish," he prayed, "I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]