Reckoning of Fallen Gods by R. A. Salvatore

Author:R. A. Salvatore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

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She felt herself growing healthier by the day, and the song of Usgar grew stronger in her mind. There was something about this place, this secret pool and waterfall, that seemed truly calming and magical to Aoleyn. For a while, it was enough for her to simply bask in the warmth and cleansing water, enjoy her meals, and hear the song, but as the days slipped past, her curiosity mounted as her wounds diminished.

Was she really under the God Crystal? She knew in her heart that she was, but in her mind, she kept trying to find other explanations for this possibly natural cave.

She used the moonstone in her belly ring one day—she had no idea if it was morning or night—to fly up to the top of the cavern. Exploring the ceiling, she found, very near the waterfall, the strongest song of Usgar, and a vein of quartz crystal within the rock. Indeed, it thrummed with the power of her god, so she fell into its song and found herself suddenly looking out on the surface world!

It took her many heartbeats to realize the truth of it: she was looking out from the sacred crystal itself. The day about it was bright and sunny. The wind blew the pines this way and that, and there was a bit of snow in the air, though whether it was falling from some unseen cloud or simply blowing about, she could not tell.

Aoleyn went back down to the floor to regather her strength and sort through this new puzzle. Was she truly looking through the eyes of her god? She thought of the quartz-flecked spear tips, of how the witches could use them to look far down the mountain for returning hunters, or escaped uamhas.

The song had never been this pure and strong, however. What else might she do through this vein of magic, she wondered?

She flew back up and fell through the inviting quartz magic once more. She studied her surroundings. Hardly even aware of her action, she called to her turquoise ear cuff, and sent that magic through the God Crystal.

A mouse. Several more. An owl.

An owl.

Aoleyn remembered that day, which seemed like years before now, though it was not, when she had entered the mind of an owl and flown about the mountain.

Could she?

She sent her thoughts out through the God Crystal, reaching for the mind of the owl. She became disoriented, then, and nearly banged her head on the stone, for she was suddenly looking back on the crystal from a nearby pine. The sound around her magnified intensely, as well, the howling wind, the crackle of a fire, the murmurs of human voices. The Usgar camp.

As she had on that long-ago day, Aoleyn easily took control of the bird and flew from the branch, gliding on rising winds to gain some height.

Fireach Speuer lay thick with snow. Deep snow. Midwinter snow. She had been down here not days, but weeks.

She glided down part of the

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