The Mirror of Worlds by Drake David

Author:Drake, David [Drake, David]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780765351173
Publisher: Tor
Published: 2007-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Tenoctris drew back on the reins, halting the gig on the crest above the opened tomb. Cashel hopped out and tied the mare to the base of a bush—probably Forsythia, but it was past blooming and he wasn't sure. He used the lead rope rather than the reins to give the horse more room to browse. She'd probably tangle the line in the brush, but at least he'd tried to make her a little more comfortable.

Cashel drew the satchel with her gear from behind the seat as Tenoctris dismounted. She moved carefully, but she didn't need his help like she used to for doing common things like, well, getting up and down from a gig.

"I thought there'd be guards still here," he said, looking down at the excavation. In truth he'd been surprised that they'd been able to leave the Coerli city without having an escort of soldiers. Things were different with Garric gone. It wasn't that Sharina didn't care about him and Tenoctris, it was just that she didn't believe Cashel or anybody Cashel was looking after needed other help.

Cashel smiled, standing with the staff in one hand and the satchel made from a rug in the other. He wasn't as strong as Sharina seemed to think; but he doubted a soldier or an army—could handle any likely trouble better than him alone.

"I'm going to lie in the sarcophagus again," Tenoctris said, taking short steps down the slope. "I don't need it the way I did the other night, but it's such a powerful focus that it'll reduce the process to a few minutes."

She chuckled. "That concentration of powers is the only thing of value here," she explained. "And it's of no more use to ordinary thieves than a vat of molten steel would be."

Cashel scrambled to get in front, just in case the old wizard slipped. There was next to no chance of his own bare feet going out from under him, but he slanted the quarterstaff out for a brace anyway.

He paused at the top of the trench to judge the sun. It'd be down soon, but the twilight would last long enough to see by for another hour.

"I'm going to make myself younger," Tenoctris said.

Cashel stepped into the tomb and turned to make sure Tenoctris didn't have trouble in the doorway. She maybe thought he was surprised to hear what she'd said, because she went on, "Oh, not for vanity, I assure you. It's just a practical response to the difficulties of what we'll be doing. I need a more supple body, you see."

Cashel helped her onto the bench and held her hand as she got into the coffin. He looked again at the carvings and wondered about the man who'd wanted to be buried in such a thing.

Tenoctris opened her satchel and took out a simple stylus of lead. With it she marked a triangle on the bottom of the stone box down at the end where her head'd lain when they came here before, then wrote words on each of the three sides.

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.