A Handful of Men: The Complete Series by Dave Duncan

Author:Dave Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504047128
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2017-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

5

Late in the afternoon. Thaïle awoke from a doze feeling restored and strengthened. Her hunger pangs had gone.

She was familiar enough with sorcery now to recognize its effects and could guess at the meaning. She did not believe she had won. More likely her rebellion was just not going to be tolerated any longer.

She peered out a window. The forest glade was bright with thin sunshine and apparently deserted, but common sense suggested she would have visitors shortly. She treated herself to a hasty dip in the magical hot water of the bathtub, then dressed in a soft green gown and brushed her hair. She took a chair out to the porch and sat down to wait.

Shadows lay long upon the grass and the western clouds were flushing. In a few minutes she observed a tall figure coming through the trees, walking slowly along the Way. It was the apparition she had met on the mountain path. It bore a long staff, although its gait seemed steady enough. Measuring its approach by her own rising fear, she watched until it came to a halt before the steps. Even then, nothing of the person within the dark cloak was visible—the cowl cast an unnaturally dark shadow over the face, and the hand holding the staff was concealed by the edge of the sleeve—yet somehow she knew it to be a very old woman.

Thaïle could remember strangers calling at the Gaib Place. The visitor would speak first, giving his name and home, then her father would bid him welcome and offer hospitality. But this was no ordinary visitor, and the cottage was the Thaïle Place only because it had been given to her by the College—and thus by this very visitor, if it was who she thought it was. And she had no food to offer.

She slid off the chair to her knees and bowed her head.

The stranger made a little sighing noise, as if approving. A board creaked as she stepped up on the porch. She dragged the chair back a couple of paces and sat down.

For about a dozen heartbeats there was silence, and then the visitor spoke in that same ancient whisper Thaïle had heard in the night. “What lies Outside?”

It was the start of the catechism, and it flooded Thaïle’s mind with innumerable memories of childhood, of herself standing before her father with Feen and Sheel, learning and repeating the sacred words. She responded automatically. “Death and torture and slavery.”

“Who waits Outside?”

“The red-haired demons, the white-haired demons, the gold-haired demons, the blue-haired demons, and the dark-haired demons.”

“How do the demons come?”

“Over the mountains and over the sea.”

“Who defends us from them?”

Thaïle clasped her hands to stop them trembling. They were very cold. “The Keeper and the College.” Now she was whispering also.

“Whom do we serve?”

“The Keeper and the College.”

“Who never sleeps?”

“The Keeper.”

A longer silence, then the visitor said, “I am the Keeper.”

Thaïle shivered.

“Well, child? Have you nothing to say to me?”

“Where is Leéb?”

The Keeper banged her staff on the floor in anger.

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