Fiddler Fair by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes ]
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Science fiction, Fantasy, Epic, General, Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Fiction - Fantasy, Fantasy fiction, Short stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Fantastic fiction, Fantasy fiction, American, Historical, Contemporary, Fantasy - Historical, Fantasy - Epic, Fantasy - Contemporary, Alchemy - Fiction, Fantasy - Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9780671878665
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 1998-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

They reached the Gate at sunset. The ring of standing stones in the center of the meadow stood out black against the flaming glow of the declining sun. The wide, weed-grown fields around them were otherwise empty; not even sheep cared to graze this near a Gate. The evening wind carried a foretaste of autumnal chill as it sighed through the grasses around them. Martis squinted against the bloody light and considered their options.

Lyran had finally decided to exhaust his misbehaving mount by trotting it in circles around her as they traveled down the road until it was too tired to fuss. Now it was docile, but plainly only because it was weary. It still rolled its eyes whenever a leaf stirred. The sorceress urged her gelding up beside his.

"Can you get one last run out of him?" Martis asked anxiously.

"Probably," Lyran replied. "Why?"

"I'd like to take this Gate now, if we can, while that misbegotten horse of yours is too tired to bolt."

He looked at her in that silent, blank-faced way he had when he was thinking. "What if he did bolt?"

"The gods only know where you'd end up," she told him frankly. "If he got out of my influence—I can't predict what point beyond the Gate you'd come out at, or even what direction it would be in."

"And if I can't get him to a gallop?"

"Almost the same—if you didn't keep within my aura you'd come out somewhere between here and where I'd land."

He reached out and touched her face with the tips of his fingers. "You seem tired, beloved."

"I am tired," she admitted, confessing to him what she would admit to no other living person. "But I'm not too tired to Gate-spell, and I think it's safer to do it now than it will be later."

"Then I will force this bundle of contrariness disguised as a horse into keeping up with you."

"Hold butter-brains here, would you?" she passed him the reins of her mount, not trusting it to stand firm on its own. She drew entirely into herself, centering all her concentration on the hoarded power within herself, drawing it gradually to the surface with unspoken words and careful mental probes. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel the energy stirring, flowing, coming up from—elsewhere—and beginning to trickle along the nerves of her spine. At first it was barely a tingle, but the power built up quickly until she was vibrating to its silent song.

At that point she opened the channels to her hands, raising her arms out in front of her and holding her hands out with the open palms facing the ring of standing stones.

The power surged along her arms and leapt for the ring of the Gate with an eagerness that was almost an emotion. She sang the words of the Gate-spell now, sang it in a barely audible whisper. Her eyes were half open, but she really wasn't paying a great deal of attention to anything but the flow of power from her to the Gate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.