Nightseer by Laurell K Hamilton

Author:Laurell K Hamilton [Hamilton, Laurell K]
Format: epub, azw
Published: 2010-06-23T01:37:01.789000+00:00

Fire and Ice

There was nothing alive between the gardens and the dragon stables, neither enemy nor friend. Keleios stared back at the keep, for the flames had claimed it. Great roaring sheets of fire blazed from the collapsed roof. The library was being consumed. Jodda knelt by Belor, laying hands on him once more.

He stirred and moaned under her touch.

Tobin said, “Keleios, one of the black healers called Velen is bargaining with the devil. The devil is listening.”

She turned to Lothor. “What could your brother offer to a free devil?”

“He is an intimate of Verm. Even devils like to stay on the good side of a god.”

“An intimate—what does that mean.”

Lothor stared at the twin glows in the night sky. The keep blazed brightest, but the devil’s glow rivaled it. “Some say his father was Verm.”

“So you and Velen don’t share either mother or father?”

“If Verm is truly his father, no.”

“You don’t really believe a god fathered Velen, do you?”

Lothar shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Keleios shook her head, feeling an argument coming on. “We have little time. Can you make a protective circle with the dagger?”

“I said I could.”

“Will it be too dangerous to include all of us in the power circle?”

“It might be too dangerous not to.”

Jodda said, “I will not be party to raising a devil for any reason.”

Lothor bowed to her. “White healer, you and the young ones will be inside the power circle, protected, but not drawn upon. All the power needed or used will be within a star.”

He held out his hand, bare now, and Keleios gave him the white dagger handle first. It seemed to blend with his skin, to belong in his grasp. His helmet had been set on the ground, leaving his white hair and face free. His hair was tied back in a long knot, leaving his elf-pointed ears bare. He began to pace a circle, the white dagger out before him balanced on his outstretched palms.

Belor sat up slowly and Tobin moved to help him. He waved the boy back. “How did we get here?”

Keleios went to him. “We carried you.”

He massaged the back of his head. “I remember falling rock. Something exploded my illusions.”

“It was a devil.”

“What . . . ”

“Belor, we need your help to conjure up another devil to turn or fight this one, or we will all die.”

He stared at her, mouth slightly agape. “Have you lost your senses? You do not conjure devils without preparation and a sacrifice, and then you still don’t do it.”

Lothor began his third circuit, the blade pointed downward. When Keleios concentrated, she could see a line of power flowing downward from the blade.

“Belor, I felt the same way, but this thing must be destroyed, or we will die; everyone will die.”

His eyes reflected the flames. “Keleios, everyone is dead. They couldn’t survive the fire, the explosion.”

“Very few are in the keep now.”

They turned to Jodda. “The invaders came to the place where the children were kept and took them. They knew where we would hide the children, they knew.

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