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144 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
144 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<title>The Shadowmaster - Chapter 32</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type=
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"application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
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"page-template.xpgt"/>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div id="text">
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<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
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<h1>32</h1>
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<p>
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There was danger here, and it was all around. Jack could feel it. Foul images of death and destruction came to him again: bloody battlefields, carrion
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roaks, mouldering skeletons, all the horrors that had been or might still be to come.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>Get out. Get OUT.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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A command inside his head sent him reeling and something cold as death enveloped him in a sensation of dank decay. Another image began to form in his mind.
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</p>
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<p>
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He saw his father with Kerry and Corriwen at his side as a vast army of monstrosities overwhelmed them, biting and ripping and tearing.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>Get out. </em>
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The foul voice screamed.<em> There is nothing for you here. Run! Save them!</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack couldn't tell whether the voice was real or illusion, but he fought against it. He closed his eyes and forced himself to picture his own thoughts: His
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friendship with Kerry. The day they saved Corriwen. The touch of his father's hand. The warmth of his mother's heart. It took a great effort of will, but
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these clean and pure memories began to overcome the foul invasion and the voice and the horrific images began to fade.
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</p>
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<p>
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Over and above the cold whisperings, he could hear something else, and it sounded like the beat of another human heart.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack held Megrin's staff high. Gauzy shapes moved around him, now silent as moths and barely visible. Jack sensed their baleful hatred, but continued into
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the darkness until a glimmer of other light began to glow ahead of him.
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</p>
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<p>
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The whispering voices died away. Megrin's light grew stronger and Jack felt the atmosphere change. The ground trembled, but he kept his grip on the
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heartstone as he edged forward.
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</p>
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<p>
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In front of him, a silvery light grew in intensity. Tangles of moving darkness surrounded it in coils, but as Jack approached, the glow strengthened.
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</p>
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<p>
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And then Jack saw her.
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</p>
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<p>
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His heart leapt into his throat and left him breathless and dizzy. At first he thought it was just a floating illumination, but as he stepped nearer it
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began to take form. It was a woman, still as death, wrapped in a cocoon of sparkling light.
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</p>
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<p>
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She was pale, as if carved from marble. She floated, suspended within the light which played on her delicate features, making her long fair hair gleam.
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Both hands were crossed over her chest and at her throat pulsed another heartstone, cut and polished just like the one Jack held, but this one clear as a
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diamond and aglow with white light.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack felt as if his heart would burst.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>Heart of my heart. </em>
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The gentle voice spoke within him. <em>Soul of my soul.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack gripped the heartstone. It beat steadily, matching the pulse of the crystal heart. His feet moved of their own accord and brought him closer.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>You come at last…</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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He heard the words, and felt the joy in them. It matched the joy that swelled inside his own chest.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>…to bring me back…</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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He bent towards his mother. Silver light tinkled as if the dust in the air were charged with power. He took her hands in his. They were cold as stone and
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there was no sign of life.
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</p>
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<p>
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Some compulsion made him lean further until he was only inches away from her perfect face.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>And the two heartstones touched.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Light blazed so brightly that he felt it sear through every nerve in his body. In that moment Jack was overwhelmed by a flood of images and memories as the
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white radiance sizzled through every nerve.
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</p>
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<p>
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He saw his mother and father walking on a beach towards the rising sun. He saw the dark shadow envelop their home and he watched the final, desperate
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battle with the nightshades. He saw his father lift him from a cradle and fight his way out, while a great pit opened, taking his mother into darkness.
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</p>
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<p>
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He heard the banshee screeches of the things that hunted them through woodland until they reached the stone gate. He felt again the <em>twist</em> as his
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father stepped through. He heard him blow on his horn and wrap him tight, with the heartstone and the book of ways secured in the blanket.
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</p>
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<p>
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The memories streamed through his mind, surging with colour and images, flooding him with knowledge of his mother and father and their lives, and what had
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brought them both to this place where all roads ended.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the brilliant radiance, a soft hand cupped his face. In the brilliant light she now stood before him, tall and slender. Wide blue eyes regarded him and
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in them he saw infinite wisdom. Tears coursed down her sculpted cheeks. Her hands slid around his shoulders and brought him into her warmth.
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</p>
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<p>
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"My baby," she said, through her tears. "My boy. My <em>journeyman</em>."
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</p>
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<p>
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He moved into her embrace and the two heartstones came together again. Light soared to such an intensity that all darkness fled. All around them, the
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prison which had held her all of his life, disintegrated under the force of the heartpower.
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</p>
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<p>
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They stood together, mother and son, each holding tight to the other, while the Tor surrounding them crumbled to dust and blew away.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack's mother closed her eyes. She whispered softly and the blazing light slowly faded and Jack saw they were back in the middle of the amphitheatre.
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</p>
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<p>
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His father stood tall with the great sword. Kerry, Corriwen and Rionna were behind him.
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</p>
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<p>
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And the hordes of the obscene, misshapen creatures that had hunched and lurched towards them were still as statues, frozen in a moment of time.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack heard a ringing in his ears and sound came back, the growling and chittering of the grotesque army and the scuttle of claws on the ground.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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