Storm (The Wintering Book 2) by Stephen Bowkett

Author:Stephen Bowkett [Bowkett, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Venture Press
Published: 2015-10-07T23:00:00+00:00

Adventures With Impossible Figures

In that moment when almost the whole assembly stood paralysed believing they would die, Zauraq was the only one to show some presence of mind. Daring as he had never done before, he took his eyes from the monstrous globe, reached into the leather pouch at his belt and lifted out the Universal Wheel.

‘By the Rad, it is alive …’

Then they all saw that was true. Tiny lights twinkled over its surface in mimicry of the sky; slowing, halting for a moment, then speeding up in scintillant waves that swept around the circumference of the Wheel again and again —

And as if in final confirmation of the reality of the gods, the patterns were repeated on a colossal scale across the sky globe itself, and the encampment was washed with rainbows.

Zauraq, Hora and the other wyrda gasped in their astonishment. Sebalrai began laughing, laughing until she cried with it. She kept her face upturned and let the light pour in. Skjebne came over to Kell and put a hand on his shoulder and gripped it hard.

‘Young friend, I think that if you had any part in this spectacle, you should decide what you want to do next …’

‘That’s easier said than done,’ Kell gabbled out. He told Skjebne of his dream. ‘But that was only in my head — an idea.’

‘All things are ideas before they are expressed in the world. Let your idea run free and have the sky globe do what you will.’

‘But the orb is huge!’

‘Only small minds are impressed by size alone. Go on. Deep down you know what to do.’

Kell forced himself to relax — then abandoned trying, as though he was the water in the stream that already knew its way.

With the gentlest of sighs the orb settled down through the air. Its brilliancy faded until only a few silver pinpoints of twinkling light marked out its dimensions, making it look to Kell like a scattered swarm of ligetu moths wheeling around a sphere of blackness.

‘It’s coming to us!’ Zauraq announced. Hora had automatically reached for his sword, then laughed as he realised how ridiculous that was. Instead, he propped his hands on his hips and let his heart swell with the sense of momentous occasion the night had brought.

The orb descended as naturally and as quietly as a leaf from a tree until it was less than one span above the ground. Then it stopped instantly with no sign of its mechanism of support, save for a slight agitation in the stones beneath.

Kell walked towards it and held out his hand — which Zauraq snatched away with a stem and angry look.

‘This is a divine vessel. You will not profane it with your touch.’

Kell felt a huge anger rising, the outcome of all the angers he had ever known against the small-mindedness of people in blocking his way.

‘The boy is just curious,’ Hora said, trying to mend the rift. ‘We are all curious.’

‘Even so, curiosity is nothing. This vessel is holy.

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.