Magic in Ithkar 3 by Andre Norton & Robert Adams (ed.)

Author:Andre Norton & Robert Adams (ed.) [Norton, Andre & Adams, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 0812547349
Publisher: T. Doherty Associates
Published: 1986-10-01T07:00:00+00:00

Roma awakened with an aching head and a body as sore as if it had been beaten.

Her night clothing was clammy with sweat, and she was glad to strip it off and wash, wash the last remnants of the horror from her.

She dressed, then suddenly her knees threatened to give beneath her, and she staggered to a stool fortunately near to hand.

Full memory was hers again. Rural? How was he? Where was he? She recalled how he had stood, pitting his man’s strength against that of the dark god, striving as much to shield her as to cover himself. If he had not returned, or had returned blasted . . .

She heard him, not his mind-call, but his voice. He was waiting outside the stall.

“Roma! Will you sleep the day away?”

The woman darted from the resting area.

He was clad in his fair-ward’s uniform and, except for a pallor and strain still on him, seemed none the worse for their dire night.

He looked better than ever before. The clouds were gone from his eyes now. They laughed and were glad, as she knew they were meant to be.

“I am pleased to find you well, lady artist,” he said gravely. “There was apparently some great upheaval last night while we slept.”

“Sit. Tell me what’s happened here while you examine the portrait doll. I finished the outfitting of it yesterday after the paint dried.”

He obeyed, lowering his voice when he spoke again. “The temple is like to a hive. Vast amounts of power exploded suddenly over the whole fair area. The priests cannot find the source of it but are blaming Thotharn’s followers since the whole of it seemed to settle upon them. The chief priest is dead. His two foremost assistants would be better so, for no remnant at all of a mind remains to either of them. The lesser followers have all fled.”

He nodded when her eyes closed. “They were evil and espoused an evil cause, but aye, it was hard seeing what they have become.”

“Does anyone suspect us?”

“No one. All the fair-wards are conducting searches and asking questions, but no one saw or sensed anything, not even your kin, whom you may be sure I have read. Their rest was not troubled.”

“What—what of—him?”

“‘Thotharn is hardly dead, but rest assured that we shall be free from his attentions from now on, and I think he will walk far more carefully in his efforts against humankind from this time forth.”

He stopped speaking for a moment, then looked at her steadily. “We wrought well together, you and I.”

The woman’s eyes turned downward. “We did,” she agreed softly.

“Could you leave your kin to dwell with me amongst mine? Your arts would be thrice welcome, this of your hands and the other. You will find our bards are more open of mind than are those of the mainland.”

She flushed, but there had been much unavoidable sharing between their minds last night. . . .

Roma loved the people of Clan Lorekin, loved the place she held amongst them, the place her talent had earned.

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