The Dark Abyss by Bruce Coville

Author:Bruce Coville [Coville, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, General, Science Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9780553276404
Google: yXFRHDysTioC
Amazon: 0553276409
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 1989-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Harvest Is Coming

He floated, wrapped in pain, waiting for her to come. But when she arrived, when her mind reached out to touch his, it was timid, as if she were afraid he would be angry. The idea astonished him. How could he be angry with her? Without her he would be lost beyond redemption.

What is it, dear one? he responded, struggling to keep his thoughts gentle in spite of the searing pain.

She tried to hide her distress. It was pointless. He knew her thought patterns, her feelings, too well for that kind of dissembling. When she quivered, as now she did, it was as if he could feel the tremor through his own skin. Strange, considering that he was so out of touch with his own body that he could not even locate his arms and legs; they were simply part of the total experience labeled PAIN, which aside from thoughts of L'Claar was all that existed inside his skin.

Suddenly he was frightened. She was his comfort and his solace. Yet, when her mind had reached out to him this time, her turmoil had struck him as a thing that was almost physical.

It is nothing, she lied, and he was hurt by it, because until now there had been no lies between them.

Don't! he thought, almost desperately. Never lie to me. We are too close. It hurts me too much.

All is pain, she responded.

Then let us not give each other any more than is necessary.

But it mil pain me to tell you this, she said.

Any more than it pains you to hold it in?

He could feel her sigh as though it were his own. The Harvest is coming, she finally replied, and I fear for you.

What Harvest?

The Harvest of Souls.

What do you mean? he asked.

But the answer to that question was locked away so deeply that, as close as they were, he could not begin to find it.

And Sidi Bombay, who had thought for an eternity that he had nothing left to lose but L'Claar, found that he was frightened for himself.

I will be back, she whispered in his mind as she pulled away, leaving him to writhe in the agonies of whatever hell it was he had fallen into.

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