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265 lines
13 KiB
HTML
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<head>
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<title>The Shadowmaster - Chapter 16</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>16</h1>
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<p>
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Kerry was running, running in the dark, slashing through the cobwebs that tried to hold him back, hardly aware of the walls blurring past him and the roots
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slapping his head.
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</p>
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<p>
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Behind him, a raging flood snarled and bellowed, gaining on him despite his speed.
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</p>
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<p>
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"<em>Height</em>," he thought, "Need to climb!"
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</p>
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<p>
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But the burrow-like tunnel was level. He was caught here, with water at his back and nothing but shadows ahead. He ran and ran, ran for his life, biting
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down on the panic that threatened to swamp him just as easily as that surging flow would if it caught him.
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</p>
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<p>
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He barged through another veil of webs. Ahead of him, the tunnel forked, left and right.
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</p>
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<p>
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In his head, the voice spoke again. He didn't recognise any words, but it seemed to touch something real. Without hesitation he threw himself right. This
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tunnel was even narrower than the first, earthen walls scraping his shoulders, trying to slow him down. He hunched tight and ran on, feet thudding, heart
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thumping.
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</p>
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<p>
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"<em>Jump….!</em>" Another wordless command.
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</p>
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<p>
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Without thinking, Kerry leapt….and leapt clean over a yawning hole. His feet hit crumbling earth on the far side but he managed to scramble forward
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before he slipped into black depths. Behind him, the roar was deafening, pushing him forward with enormous pressure in this confined space.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then, miraculously, the path began to rise. A surge of hope swelled. Maybe…just <em>maybe</em> he could get high enough.
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</p>
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<p>
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He couldn't even risk a glance behind. There was not an instant to lose. Already the air was moist and he could feel a cold droplet spray on the back of
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his neck. Just yards behind him, he could sense the water catching up, a raging beast set to pounce.
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</p>
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<p>
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He was up the slope, slowing down not one bit. Froth surged around his feet and he knew that in one second he'd be slammed forward, then swallowed. He
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screwed up his eyes in dread anticipation, forced one last huge effort from his legs…
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</p>
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<p class="break">
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***
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack's head throbbed. His whole body was one big bruise, or so it felt. Carefully he uncurled. For a moment looping vertigo made his vision blur and he
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closed his eyes tight until it went away.
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</p>
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<p>
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He sat up, as the horrific memory of gargoyles and the creature with great leathery wings came back to him.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack shook the vision from his mind, not wanting to relive that moment or the, mindless terror he had felt.
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</p>
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<p>
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He tried to work out where he was. Corriwen and Kerry had been ahead of him, moving fast. He had run for the door, feeling the pull of that creature's
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will.
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</p>
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<p>
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And then he had been falling, crashing down until everything faded. He looked groggily around, but there was no sign of his friends. He called for them by
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name, but heard only his voice reverberating from stone walls then fading to silence.
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</p>
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<p>
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He forced himself to his feet, checking to ensure he still wore the heartstone, and that he still had the great sword and the leather bag with the Book of
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Ways inside.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then he braced himself against a wall and took in his surroundings. He was on a wide spiral stairwell. There was no banister of any sort, and each dusty
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wooden tread was fixed into the wall, without any other support. It felt flimsy and unsafe.
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</p>
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<p>
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He risked getting closer to the edge of the stairs and looked up. The stairs spiralled for an impossible distance before they disappeared in murk and dust.
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Vertigo made him sway on the brink and he backed away. He felt trapped and confined and totally alone.
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</p>
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<p>
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The steps below him took several turns before they reached a stone floor. It was darker down there, but logic told him he should take the lesser distance
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so, hugging the wall, he descended carefully, until he reached the bottom and a blank, circular wall. A dead end.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the centre of the floor there was a rusted metal grate with thick bars on what looked like the top of an ancient well, fastened by a single hoop. Jack
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approached it cautiously and peered down, expecting to see his reflection in water. But there was nothing. The well seemed to go down as far as the
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stairway ascended.
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</p>
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<p>
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Yet <em>something</em> was down there. The heartstone squeezed against him, just as a low vibration reverberated from the depths.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack forced himself back, fighting a curious compulsion to stay and see what it could be. He turned and scrambled up the steps, two at a time, as the steps
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creaked and dipped alarmingly under his weight. When he thought he had gained enough height, he crawled forward until he could see back down.
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</p>
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<p>
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Something hit the grate with such force the heavy bars jumped upwards. It clanged back down again and from behind them, came a ferocious roar.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack recoiled, wondering if there was anywhere inside Bodron's domain that wasn't haunted by beasts and nightmares. Did Megrin's brother have monsters
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lying in wait at every turn? Jack couldn't answer that question, but he knew he'd have to assume so, if he had any chance of staying alive in this terrible
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place.
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</p>
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<p>
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Creature in the well crashed again at the grate and Jack was convinced it was only a matter of time before the old metal gave way. He needed to get some
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more distance.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack continued up the stairway for another ten turns before he risked stopping to look up, hoping to see a doorway or a landing. But there was nothing.
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Only the flimsy spiral steps going up and up until they disappeared in the distance.
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</p>
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<p>
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Far below he heard the gate snap open and crash back against the floor and the trapped beast, now free, bellowed in triumph. Almost immediately, Jack heard
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the hard thud of its weight on the treads. It sounded more like hooves than feet, but he didn't chance looking down. Ahead of him the staircase climbed
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impossibly high and he knew he couldn't keep running forever.
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</p>
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<p>
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He suddenly recalled Megrin's warning
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>Don't believe what you see, or what you hear. This is no earthly place, that's for certain. We'd say it was </em>
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weird-bound<em>.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Think,<em> </em> he ordered himself - though not daring yet to pause on the stairs, because behind him he could hear the clatter of hooves on the treads
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and they sounded even louder than before. <em>Think……!</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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"Don't believe what you see or hear." He spoke the words aloud. "She means it's not real."
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</p>
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<p>
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What he'd seen in the great chamber, when it turned to look at him, it had <em>felt</em> real. It seemed to reach inside his soul.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack caught his breath and listened. The clatter of running hooves was closer now. He shouldered the satchel, grasped the hilt of the sword and started
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climbing again, as fast as he could, and then he forced himself to stop. Quickly he unhitched the satchel and drew out the Book of Ways, placed it on a
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step, and tried to ignore the <em>thud-thud-thud</em> from below.
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</p>
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<p>
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The Book opened words began to scroll across the page.
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</p>
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<p>
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As Jack bent to read, the letters squirmed and changed, a jumble of characters impossible to read. He tried to focus on them, but it made his head ache.
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The letters spun and separated, crawling over the page like ants.
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</p>
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<p>
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Almost desperately, he reached into his tunic and drew out the Heartstone, cupped both hands around it, and looked at the open book through the smoky
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fireglass.
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</p>
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<p>
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The lines on the page jumped into clarity and he read:
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Journeyman finds all confusion
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Caught in snare of bale illusion
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Friend is lost in shadow land
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Testing time is now at hand
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Spellbind storm approaches swift
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</p>
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<p class="centered">
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Heart will summon friend adrift.
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</p>
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<p>
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He stared at the words, willing them to make sense. They always had before, even if the message was at first unclear. Below him, the beast on the stairs
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howled and its clattering hooves sent shudders up the wooden steps.
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</p>
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<p>
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The book snapped shut.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>All confusion…bale illusion.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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And Megrin's words were fresh and clear. Don't <em>believe.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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He closed his eyes, pressed the heartstone on his forehead, feeling its heat. He pictured himself, with Kerry and Corriwen together in sunlight on the lush
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grass of Uaine. The heart beat in time with his own pulse.
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</p>
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<p>
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"I believe…in my <em>friends.</em> I believe in the sword…..and in the Book of Ways!"
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</p>
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<p>
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His voice rose: "I believe in the Sky Queen. I believe in the Heartstone. All of them are <em>real</em>."
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</p>
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<p>
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He turned on the stair, eyes closed, but now facing down the spiral.
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</p>
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<p>
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"But I don't believe in <em>you!</em>"
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</p>
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<p>
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The howl soared to a scream.
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</p>
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<p>
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"I… <em>DON'T… BELIEVE!"</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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A wave of pressure blasted up from below, rattling the flimsy wooden steps, and a rumbling vibration shuddered the walls.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack pressed the heart tight on his skin.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Corriwen," he cried aloud. "Kerry! Can you hear me?"
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</p>
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<p>
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The stone wall beside him wavered like the surface of a pool. Above him, high overhead, the walls convulsed and a section of the stairway popped free and
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came tumbling down.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Corriwen!"
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</p>
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<p>
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And suddenly he could see her in the gleam of the heartstone, stumbling in a mist that was up to her chest, a mist that seemed to stretch to the far
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horizon and keep going. She cocked her head, as if she heard him too.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack concentrated hard. He imagined he heard her voice, thin and muffled in the mist.
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</p>
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<p>
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And behind that voice, the sound of something that growled like predator.
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen was turning around wildly, trying to locate the sound that Jack had heard.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Run..Corrie. Run to me!"
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</p>
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<p>
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Under his feet, a powerful tremor shook the staircase and it began to disintegrate. The treads vibrated like springs and some of those higher up began to
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work themselves free. They simply dropped, one on another, like dominoes.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack opened his eyes and saw them plummet towards him in an avalanche of dusty wood. A noise like thunder swelled louder and louder as they slammed into
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lower ones and knocked them free, until all he could see was a mass of broken wood falling so fast it swept everything away.
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</p>
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<p>
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And there was no way for him to escape.
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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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