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"Duncan ... we are losing Homana-Mujhar."
"Aye. Carillon will have to wait a while longer before he can assume the
Mujhar's throne. We must gather ourselves and go before Bellam finishes the
qu'mahlin Shaine began."
Thome, at Atix's feet, groaned. She shuddered and whipped her head around to
look, hand to her mouth. Duncan took her away from the young Atvian, heading
toward the door.
"Duncan he is still alive!"
"He will have to remain that way. We can spare no more time, Alix. Come."
Getting out of Homana-Mujhar safely proved more difficult than getting in.
Twice Duncan had to fend off Solindish soldiers and Alix shrieked once as ^
wounded Atvian rose from the floor-
A thrown knife bearing Carillon's royal crest quivered in the man's back and
she looked up to meet Finn's eyes across the corridor.
"So, meijha, you still trail after my rujho."
Alix, faced with Finn's obvious exhaustion and blood-smeared features, laughed
at him, "Aye, I still do. And ever will."
Finn smiled at her and retrieved the knife that was now his, shooting his
brother a searching look. Duncan gestured for him
to follow and they moved down the corridor silently.
"The prince?" Duncan asked hoarsely.
**I left him in Shame's own chambers, effectively dispatching two Atvians. Our
princeling has learned how to kill. He did not need my help."
"Are you ready to go from this place?"
Finn laughed shortly. "Though I hate leaving such work unfinished, I am more
than ready. All we do here is die." He sighed. "We will take Homana-Mujhar
another time."
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"Carillon might not wish to go."
"He will when I have told him. He may be my liege lord, but
I have more sense."
"Do you?" Alix demanded, grasping Duncan's belt as they moved.
"Aye, mei jha, I do."
"Well, rujfw," Duncan said, "perhaps you have gained some in the past months.
You never had any before."
Finn, affronted, followed them as Storr moved closely at his heels.
They found Carillon where Finn had said and convinced him to join their flight
from the palace. He was not particularly happy
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with the idea, bat gave in when Duncan explained their chances.
Carillon sighed and pushed a forearm across his damp forehead.
His hair had dried into unruly curls.
"This way," he said and led them through winding corridors.
Twisting and turning in the bowels of the immense palace, they followed the
prince out of Homana-Mujhar, glad of a respite. They found no Atvian or
Solindish troops and it gave them all a chance to breathe again.
Alix followed Carillon out of a recessed doorway into the small bailey at the
back of the palace- Behind her were Duncan and Finn, murmuring to one another
in the Old Tongue she had not yet quite learned. Then she came to an abrupt
stop as
Carillon halted before her, and stepped around him to question their pause.
She came face-to-face with a cloaked figure very like the man she had slain in
the streets of Mujhara, and suddenly she was very afraid.
A gloved hand slid the hood back, baring exquisitely fine features and a
sweetly beguiling smile. "Alix," he said softly.
"And my lord prince of Homana. I could not have hoped for better fortune."
"Tynstar . . ." she whispered.
Duncan stepped beside her, keeping her between himself and the prince. Finn
stood at Carillon's right hand, making certain the prince had room to use his
sword. Storr, hackled and growling, waited at Finn's right side.
Tynstar smiled. "A tableau. I have before me the three men most responsible
for attempting to ruin Bellam's bid to take
Homana." His black eyes flickered. "And the woman." He moved closer
soundlessly, staring into her face. "Alix, I said you should remain
insignificant. You have not heeded me."
She swallowed heavily and fought down the fear that threat-
ened to turn her knees to water. The man who had been so kind and unassuming
when first they met displayed his true colors to her at last, and she
understood the magnitude of his dedication to his dark gods.
Tynstar smiled more broadly. "Shaine is dead. And Keough.
Even Prince Thome lies dying of a Cheysuli knife. You have accounted for a
large toll, this night." His voice dropped to a whisper. "But it is for
naught."
"Naught!" Carilton echoed.
"Aye. Bellam holds Homana-Mujhar. Homana is his."
"Yours," Alix said softly. "Homana is yours."
The Ihlini smiled sweetly.
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Carillon's hand settled on his sword hilt. Tynstar's eyes moved from Alix to
him.
"Were I you, my young Mujhar, I would leave Homana-
Mujhar instantly."
Carillon's hand twitched. "You tell me to go ..."
Tynstar affected a casual shrug. "You are nothing to me.
Bellam wants you for parading before his men, and to show the
Homanans your defeat, but / see no use in that. It only makes a man determined
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to have retribution." A hand gestured smoothly.
"You have seen what such desires have done to the Cheysuli."
"The qu'mahlin is ended," Carillon snapped. "Ended. The
Cheysuli may come and go as they please, as before."
Alix felt the surge of joy in her chest, but did not move.
Before Tynstar, she could not.
The Ihlini gestured toward the small gate in the high walls.
"Go, my lord, else I change my mind."
Carillon drew his sword. Before he could complete the action of lifting it
against Tynstar he was rudely halted. He uttered a single choked-off cry and
the Cheysuli blade clanged to the stones from nerveless ringers. Carillon,
collapsing like a drunken man, fell forward to his hands and knees in front of
the sorcerer.
His head bowed as if in submission.
Alix gasped and moved forward- Duncan caught her arm and pulled her back.
"Wait. . ," he breathed.
Tynstar's eyes were expressionless as he looked on Carillon's taut shoulders.
"I hold your life. Shame's heir. 1 could crush your heart in my very hand, yet
never touch you. I could steal the very breath from your lungs in an instant.
I could make you blind, deaf and dumb with no more wits than a mewling
infant." His teeth gleamed in a terrifying smile. "But I will not." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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