Blood of Mystery by Mark Anthony

Author:Mark Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307417916
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 2009-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

37.

Lirith drew Travis and Durge into the lace-filtered light of the parlor. Travis could hear Maudie and Tanner talking in the dining room in low tones. From the sound of her voice, it seemed she was unhappy with something he was saying. A pair of cats lay on a balding velvet chaise, dozing in a stray sunbeam.

“What is it?” Travis said to the witch, keeping his voice quiet, although he wasn’t certain why. There was something about Lirith’s expression. Was it fear in her eyes?

“I ran into him. Yesterday, on my way to the jail to see Sareth. He said such strange things. I should have listened to him, I should have known something was wrong. But I was so worried about Sareth, and I just hurried on without thinking.”

“Who is this you speak of, my lady?” Durge said.

She met the knight’s questioning gaze. “Ezekial Frost.”

Travis and Lirith sat on a horsehair sofa, and Durge paced back and forth as the witch described her encounter with the old mountain man. She shut her eyes, doing her best to repeat Frost’s words exactly. Travis listened, at first in confusion, then in growing dread.

I know yeh know all about them Seven Cities...them cities of gold that men have hunted fer five hundred years...I seen yeh come on through, just like the gold man. I got to know the likes of him there. He’ll be looking for a way back....

“Are you sure?” Travis said when Lirith finished, his mouth dry. “You’re certain that was what Ezekial said?”

She nodded. “What is it, Travis? What are these Seven Cities he spoke of?”

“A legend. A myth, that’s all. Centuries ago, when explorers first came here from across the ocean, the native people who lived here told them stories about seven cities filled with riches, cities where the streets were paved with gold. The explorers were greedy men, and for centuries they searched for the Seven Cities of Cibóla. Only they never found them.”

Understanding flickered across Lirith’s face. “I have never been to Al-Amún—the land that lies south across the Summer Sea. But it is famous for its cities, which are the most ancient still standing in all of Eldh. I have heard the greatest of the cities are seven in number, and that they are built of white stone.” She drew in a deep breath. “Stone that is painted the color of gold by the light of the sun. At least so the stories say.”

Travis had no doubt those stories were true. How it had happened he didn’t know, but he could picture it: Ezekial Frost falling into a ravine, or wandering into a forgotten cave in the lonely desert of southwestern Colorado, and finding it hanging on the air: a window rimmed with blue fire. Somehow in his wanderings, the mountain man must have come upon a way that was still open.

Where the gate was, or how it had come to be there, he supposed they would never know. But after the sorcerers of Al-Amún

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