Page 72 (1/2)
And in less than a moment, she came undone
Sinew unthreaded, bones disconnected, flesh segmented itself in a spray With only a sound that reseface erupted into pieces
They flew into the air, and stayed there
Sheraptus, unblinking, si the air to ripple and suspend the reentle float Slowly, the dead stirred under his feet Bodies tre up to float around hi flowers upon a pond
‘Your denial of the obvious is char,’ he whispered sharply, ‘but only to a point To knohy you do this, futile as it is, requires a certain kind of patience’ He narrowed his stare to thin, fiery slips ‘I dearly wish I possessed such a thing’
At another word, an inco life The bodies flailed li their dead flesh, as flesh, sinew and iron enveloped hirey
A hurricane of the dead, with hian to approach the wizards
‘Suggestions?’ Bralston asked in a way Dreadaeleon felt far too calm for the situation
Perhaps such a cal hih to allow hiface’s step, his face screwed up in concentration as he strove to keep the ind under control He may be able to perform such a feat forever, but he couldn’t do it quickly
His power isn’t limitless, then
And that realisation made Dreadaeleon look with a clearfroony turned to fury as it turned an angry single eye upon the deck
‘Frost,’ he muttered, unsure to who
‘What?’
‘Give our ‘Lots of it!’
Sparing no lance for the boy, Bralston coe with breath before it ca cloud Dreadaeleon looked within it, seeing each shard of ice, each flake of frost, and the potential within the an to shape the cold within the cloud, drawing freezing particles into flakes, flakes into crystals, crystals into chunks He could feel the wind of Sheraptus’ cyclone, the scorn of the longface’s stare as he looked upon his prey He could feel the roar of the Akaneed ruh the deck as the serpent lurched forward
But the feel of cold was stronger, kept hi the theun to sway from the wind of the cyclone when he finished his creation, fore hog
And with a thrust of his hands and a shouted word, he let it fly
Flakes tailing behind it, the icicle fled through the sky, screeching against the night The Akaneed had just opened itsspear’s wailing flight was punctuated with a gut-wrenching sound
Dreadaeleon watched with lee than was probably appropriate as the spear punched through the back of the creature’s head, its red-stained tip thrusting out through blue flesh He held his breath as the Akaneed swayed, first away from the ship, teetered precariously as it seemed likely to fall back into the ocean, and then …
His eyes widened, heart raced
‘Move,’ he said
‘Agreed,’ Bralston confir
Dreadaeleon felt himself seized by powerful hands as the Librarian wrapped his arms about his torso He then felt the sensation of his feet leaving the deck as Bralston’s coat beca them both aloft
From above, the boy beamed as his plan took shape The joy he derived from Sheraptus’ scoas coface’s eyes were upon hiht of a dead, serpentine colu down on his ship
Dreadaeleon thought he face turned about in time to see it
Whatever happened next was lost in a crash of waves and the thunder of splinters as the Akaneed’s head sh the wood, ploughing through the hull, vanishing beneath the waves that rose up to claim the ship
‘Well done, concomitant,’ Bralston said
‘That probably did it,’ Dreadaeleon said, sroan and begin to sink ‘He’s dead’
‘We must assume so, for lack of any better inforo down there and be certain’
‘When the Laws are violated, there are no certainties’
‘What do we do now, then?’
‘The Venarium ant a report,’ Bralston replied ‘My orders,’ he paused, ‘our orders will dictate the next course of action, my immediate discretionary input accounted for’
‘We won, then,’ Dreadaeleon whispered ‘Or … wait, there was so I was supposed to do, wasn’t there?’
‘There were others on the ship, I believe I see them back on the beach,’ Bralston replied ‘Associates?’
‘Yes, but there were …’ Dreadaeleon shook his head ‘It’s still hard to think’
‘There were treht, more than most members are equipped to handle Take some pride in the fact that you are still conscious, if not totally aware, concoht, I feel …’
That phrase lingered on the night wind as Bralston swept about, leather wings flapping and bearing the tizards towards the shore, neither of the at theuess,’ Lenk whispered, ‘that’s that’
Through the groan of wood, the splintering of the ship’s ribs and the roar of great, gushing wounds filling with salt, he could hear a reply
‘You’re surprised?’
Was the night cold or hot, he wondered? Should he feel as warm as he did at the sound inside his head?
‘I … came for them, didn’t I? I came for her And she just--’
‘Left you But it wasn’t just her’
‘No, they all did, didn’t they?’
‘Distractions’ The night turned freezing ‘As we already knew’
‘I remember … I trusted the their coether Things were going to be all right, weren’t they?’
‘Not your fate’
‘Not our duty’