[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
'Do you know what happened to me last night?'
Incredibly, Thom had been able to dispatch the horrors of the previous night
to a quiet corner of his mind, the wonders of the morning stroll into the
depths of the forest almost overwhelming the worrying memory.
"Yes, Thom. The hellhagge sent the Night Thief to steal your seminal fluid.'
'My...? The elf...'
'Rigwit.'
'... said it was my fertility.'
'It came for your seed, that most intimate part of you. It was as if it was
taking part of your soul.'
'But why? Rigwit couldn't tell me.'
'Because we don't know. All we can understand is that you're a danger to her.'
'I hardly know Nell Quick and I certainly wouldn't harm her.'
'Nevertheless, she wants your seed to help her sorcery. Such acquisition would
be extremely powerful.'
'I don't get it. No way am I a threat to her.'
*You might be in the future and she's aware of this.'
Confused, bewildered - it was fast becoming a regular state for Thom.
'I wanted the elf to explain more to me, but, I don't know, I guess I was just
exhausted. I fell asleep.'
'He knew you needed rest more than anything else right then. It gave your mind
time to assimilate.'
'He made me sleep?'
'He helped the process. As you, yourself, said: you were exhausted. You might
easily have become traumatized.'
'Believe me, I was already.'
Which is why your mind and body needed to rest.'
There was silence between them for awhile, Thom brooding, Jennet watching him
with both interest and concern.
Eventually: 'Why didn't you appear with the other faeries? I needed all the
help I could get.'
'I cannot use the Book for entry. I can only enter by physical means and that
wasn't possible last night.
I would never have reached you in time.'
He digested this for a moment.
'I want you to tell me more about Bethan, Jennet. And my father. I want to - I
need to - know more.'
She rose to her bare feet, a graceful movement, almost as if gravity meant
very little to her. The diaphanous dress she wore was caught by a slight
breeze so that it ruffled around her slender legs; that same breeze disturbed
her bright golden hair, a curled lock tickling her cheek, delicate, fingers
brushing it away.
'A little while longer, Thom. You've already had to learn so much.'
Soon they had reached the lake and the sight of it took Thom by surprise, for
they had journeyed through unfamiliar
parts to reach a destination he knew - or thought he knew -so well. He first
glimpsed it through the dense trees, burning white behind their silhouettes,
and when he and Jennet finally broke free of the forest to stand on its
irregular grassy shoreline, he saw a million tiny glitters like daylight stars
around its edges.
Page 118
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He could not remember the phenomenon from his childhood days.
He knelt to examine the shiny speckles closest to him and reached for one
particular object that shone diamond-like. It was a jagged and many-faceted
stone, sharp to the touch and coloured silvery-white, with the palest of blues
and pinks tincturing its angles.
'Coral,' Jennet answered to the question he was about to ask. 'Four hundred
million of your years ago this place was a great barrier reef. If you dig just
below the soil you'll also find seashells, and the bones of ancient sea
creatures.'
He shook his head again in wonder. *Why didn't I see this before? I used to
come here all the time when I was a boy.'
'It's only today that you're beginning to see clearly again.'
Thom dropped the piece of skeletal rock and gazed across the lake's calm
mirror surface. It was abruptly disturbed by a swooping heron, which dipped
its beak into the water while still in flight to snatch an unwary fish. The
big bird rose majestically, its body seeming too heavy for its wings, and the
ripples its theft had caused spread outwards in ever-expanding waves towards
the shoreline.
But if Thom expected those gentle tidal waves to fade, he was wrong, for not
only did the growing circles become heavier, but they were joined by others
all over that part of the lake as though something below had also been
disturbed.
They first appeared singly, and then in groups of three or four, and they sang
as they rose, beautiful siren songs that both enchanted and terrified Thom.
WHAT KATY DID
NELL HAD led Katy up to Thom's bedroom. A. \l The therapist had protested at
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]