[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
he'd extended his lifespan. After all, he was over two thousand years old, and a sorcerer's life expectancy
was only a thousand years, or at most, twelve hundred.
Maybe he would share the secret formulas--maybe not. He did know that none of their bribes had
piqued his interest yet. Oh, well, he had lots of time.
Still, hehad been under a lot of pressure lately. Maybe he could slip away for a while. There were a
number of interesting young ladies about, and it would do his spirits good to meet some of them.
He looked back at the model on the table.
All wrong, all of it wrong. And what was that fool doing by knocking down the lintels and leaving them
scattered about? What conjuring could he ever hope to do with it?
The druid lowered his staff to knock the model apart, and the piece of amber which had come with him
from the old world--now shaped as his most sacred crystal--started to glow.
Startled, he hesitated.
There was a tiny snap of light in the middle of the model and he drew closer, holding his staff above it
and gazing in.
People! There were people on the other side! And another Stonehenge!
He could never allow this to happen. These men who had come to him might be all right, but
Caesar--dead or not--had sworn to hunt him forever. He still considered himself fortunate that
Kochanski had believed him when he'd said he'd never been able to find Earth. The fool!
"I'm still alive, you bastard! You'll never get me!" the druid roared.
The images on the other side shifted, faces looking about in fear. He laughed darkly, screaming a cursing
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
incantation, and brought down the staff to smash the model into a thousand broken splinters.
No, they'll never get me,the druid laughed to himself, panting from the excitement.
He went to the door and started to open it, then looked back at the fragments. With a wave of his hand
they reassembled, but the pattern was different, though already he wasn't sure how.
Ah, well, other things to worry about, such as the ladies. He quickly combed his hand through his long
flowing beard, fluffing it out.
He waved the door open, stepped into the hallway, and looked back once more at the model.
Already he wasn't quite sure what had happened.
Must have been that wonderful brandy I snuck earlier.
Now, brandy and ladiestogether, he thought gaily. Humming a tune from the old fertility rites, he closed
the door behind him.
Epilogue
Sarnak cleared his throat, and the argument that had been raging among his advisors instantly ceased.
"Let us summarize what we have learned. Gorgon was presumably killed by the blast. Correct?"
"There is a ten percent probability that he managed to leap back through the portal as it blew. Therefore,
there is a very slim possibility he still lives. However, his armies are decimated, and Jartan and his allied
gods left Gorgon's realm in a shambles. So, as a player, he is off the board."
"And Patrice?"
"More difficult to determine, sire. If she had an escape hole with powered pentagrams as we have set up
here, she could easily have fled relatively intact. But she is an outlaw without a power base, since Jartan
has already assimilated her realm. Her sole strength, assuming she lives, would be that she is in
possession of the Crystals of Fire."
"Which would give her tremendous individual power, but nothing else," interjected another advisor.
"Hmm," Sarnak mused. "Perhaps we can use this. Ralnath, set up a team to surreptitiously investigate all
the outer worlds she might have ported to in an emergency. I'll expect my first report in a ten-day."
"Anything else for now?" he continued, glancing down the conference table. "All right, you are dismissed
until tomorrow."
As the advisors stood and mingled, Ralnath followed his master into his inner office.
"Sire, I have news that I knew you would not want mentioned at the staff meeting. The information
reached me as the meeting was about to begin." He paused nervously, trying to gauge Sarnak's mood. "It
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
is an analysis of the potential danger to you that our sensitives and detection team have been picking up."
Sarnak's face froze slightly, and though his voice remained calm, his eyes went flat and lifeless. Ralnath
had seen this reaction before, and trembled inwardly.
"Well?"
"Not good, sire. We've determined that Boreas has made a breakthrough in farseeking." He paused for
a reaction or comment, then continued hurriedly.
"Apparently the offworlder Giorgini came up with a new method of directional finding. He has set up
sites across the world with sensitives and farseekers. They cannot locate you by themselves, but over a
period of time they will be able to pick up your aura in a general area and be able to triangulate these
findings to center your location."
Sarnak turned away, to seemingly study the map on the wall. "I presume destroying those stations would
be useless."
"Correct, sire. It would merely alert them as to their effectiveness."
There was a period of silence and Ralnath wisely kept his mouth shut, though he watched Sarnak's aura
begin to brighten as the demigod fought for control.
"How much time?"
"They calculate three to six months, sire."
Again there was a moment of silence; then Sarnak said briskly and casually, "I wish to see the report in
its entirety before we come to any hasty conclusions. If it is correct, then we have to set up alternate
plans of action. That is all for now, Ralnath. You may leave me."
Ralnath was grateful to be dismissed. His master was never so deadly as when he reacted in so
detached and perfunctory a manner.
When he was alone, Sarnak's self-discipline began to deteriorate rapidly.
Boreas will find me,he thought desperately.That creature of ice and hate won't just kill me --he
shivered--I'll be tortured for eons. If he can find me here, shielded as thoroughly as I am, then he
will be able to track me down wherever I run, be it this world or another.
In desperation he analyzed his options. There was only one solution he could think of.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]