Imager's Battalion by L. E. Modesitt Jr

Author:L. E. Modesitt, Jr [L. E. Modesitt, Jr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780765332837
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

41

Quaeryt jolted awake with sheets of warm rain gusting through the gaps in the inn shutters, plastering his underclothes to his skin. Outside was pitch-dark except for the rolling thunder and an occasional flash of lightning so close that the entire inn seemed to shudder under the force of the storm.

He sat up, then, at the creaking of his door, turned to see it swing open.

Didn’t you bar it?

Two thumps followed and, ridiculously, sitting in the doorway was a black rabbit, staring fixedly at Quaeryt. But before he could even stand, a musketeer filled the doorway, leveling a dark musket directly at him. Quaeryt immediately raised full shields, but as the musket ball struck the barrier, ice formed everywhere.

Because of the warm rain?

The cold was so intense that he immediately began to shiver … and then the ice that coated everything shattered, and chill rivulets covered Quaeryt. His head felt as though it would burst.

His skin was like ice …

… and he found himself lying on his back in bed, once more, covered in shards of ice that were melting into his underdrawers and undershirt.

Slowly he sat up in the darkness, his eyes traveling to the door, still barred, to the window, its shutters still fastened, and to the floor, covered, as was the bed, with slivers and shards of clear ice. His breath steamed in the cold air of the small chamber.

He stood, wincing as one bare foot came down on a fragment of ice, and then made his way to the windows, where he opened the shutters and let the moist warm night air flow into the room. Where the breeze from the window met the frigid air of the chamber, droplets of water pattered to the plank floor for several moments as he stood there.

What was that all about?

He’d imaged in his sleep. That was clear enough from the ice shards around the small chamber and the throbbing in his skull. But what did the black rabbit and the musketeer have to do with anything? The dream of the musketeer, that he could understand after having been fired upon so often in recent weeks, but the black rabbit? The idea that black rabbits were a harbinger of doom was strictly a belief of people who lived in the southern parts of Lydar.

They’re not even your myths or superstitions.

He pulled off his undershirt and hung it on a wall peg, then bent and brushed the remaining fragments of ice off the bed. After a moment he concentrated on imaging away water droplets. At least that small imaging didn’t worsen his headache, although it did leave the sheets chill. But then, warm as the air from outside was, that wasn’t exactly a problem.

Finally, he closed the shutters again and lay back down on the bed, hoping he could drop off to sleep again. While he did drift off into an uneasy slumber, he woke slightly before dawn, sore and groggy, but not feeling as tired as he might have.

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