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157 lines
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157 lines
7.2 KiB
HTML
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<head>
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<title>Mythlands - Chapter 33</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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<h1>33</h1>
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<p>
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Corriwen and Kerry watched, helpless to intervene as the slab flipped over and Jack and Declan vanished into the heat..
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen's knees gave under her and she would have fallen if Kerry's arm had not been locked around her.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack had made no sound at all. One moment he was there and the next he was gone, the Redthorn sword in his hand.
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry made a sound, as if he had been hit hard in the belly.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the boiling air, the Morrigan screamed, beating those wings with enough force to buffet them where they stood. Energy shot off her in waves that sent
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rocks flying into the air. Lightning stabbed up from the ground and the flock of roaks wheeling above her burst into flames and came spinning dead to
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earth.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack was gone.
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</p>
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<p>
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All they could see was the glow of rock flowing in a river of fire. Of Declan and Jack there was no sign. Way beyond the split and broken land, thousands
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of Scree knelt in homage.
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen and Kerry turned away in horror and shame.
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</p>
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<p>
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At the far side of the hillock, they came to another crack in the earth where another river of molten stone rushed in a torrent. It was too wide for them
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to cross, even by jumping from slab to slab.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're stuck," Kerry said. He sounded drained and completely devoid of any hope.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We must….flee," Corriwen said, hating herself for even thinking it. She had not come here to flee, but defeat had been forced on them just when she
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thought they had won. Now they were trapped between the Morrigan and the fires that bubbled up from hell.
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</p>
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<p>
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Behind them, over the roar of cascading brimstone, she felt the dead-touch in her mind and spun quickly.
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</p>
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<p>
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The Morrigan came swooping towards them, claws outstretched, her face worse than any nightmare vision. She radiated foulness as evil as mortal sin. Kerry
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felt himself sway, unable to move. He closed his eyes against the vision. He had no energy left even for fear.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then, without warning, the rocks shook under their feet and the bank they stood on slipped down towards the river of lava.
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry fell to his knees, dragging Corriwen with him. The rock tilted further and they slid towards the flow.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then Kerry saw the hand clutching the edge of the slab. He jerked back as the fingers clawed for purchase and something began climb out of the brimstone
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towards them.
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</p>
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<p>
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He backed away, unable to imagine what could possibly defend them against something that could live in a river of fire.
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</p>
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<p>
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Inch by inch it breached the surface, burning like the sun and inch by inch, made its way onto the slab. Heat came off it in roasting waves.
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</p>
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<p>
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In its hand was a glowing wand.
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</p>
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<p>
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Slowly, very slowly, it began to rise to its feet, a glowing man-shape.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Jack?"
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry only heard Corriwen's whisper.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Stay back," he said. "Jump if you can."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Jack!" Louder this time. Kerry shot her a glance and saw her eyes were fixed on the incandescent figure that stood before them. It was a human form
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blazing in light, almost transparent. It turned towards them and raised the brilliant wand and for a second, Kerry thought he recognised the face in the
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swirling heat.
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</p>
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<p>
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It raised the wand and he saw it was no wand. It was a sword of fire.
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</p>
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<p>
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It turned away. The Morrigan swooped.
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</p>
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<p>
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A bolt of blinding white light shot from the figure on the rock. It sizzled up the length of the blade and leapt out.
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</p>
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<p>
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The light pulsed from the stone around its neck, riving into the sword and it blasted up, Kerry recognised Jack's face inside a caul of heat.
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</p>
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<p>
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The light slammed into the Morrigan with such force she was thrown backwards.
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</p>
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<p>
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As Jack stood there - stood there, however impossibly - the light lanced out in blinding skeins. The Morrigan shrieked as she tumbled.
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</p>
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<p>
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As Kerry and Corriwen watched, open-mouthed, the heat drained from Jack's body, turning his shimmering form solid again. The glow faded, dwindling to the
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centre of his chest, flowing back into the heart-stone.
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</p>
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<p>
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High in the air, the Morrigan began to writhe and change, began to fade back into the smoke from which she had come.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack swung the sword down, and shards of its light seared the kneeling Scree, blinding them as they worshipped. They clapped warty hands over their melting
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eyes.
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</p>
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<p>
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Behind them, a horn sounded in the distance and Alevin's men and his raggedy helpers came storming across the plain.
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</p>
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<p>
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The wind caught the fading smoke that had been the Morrigan and wafted it away to the east until there was nothing to see but a smudge in the sky.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then there was nothing at all.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack paused and lowered the sword, shoulders slumped as if he was totally drained, then, slowly, like an old man, he turned towards them. For a moment his
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eyes were glazed and empty, still hot, and then they focussed on them.
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen gasped. As he stood there, they could both see that the red hand mark on his chest, and the five points of the Corona were gone, shriven clear in
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the heat of the brimstone flow.
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</p>
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<p>
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Finally the heartstone drained the last of the heat from him and faded to black.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack walked towards them and held the sword up to Corriwen. She put her hand around his on the hilt and together they raised it aloft, the Sword of
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Cullian.
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry gawped at them, still unable to speak. But his heart was bursting with pure happiness.
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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