Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold

Author:Jane Lindskold [Lindskold, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780765314802
Goodreads: 66313
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2007-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

XXVI

WHEN DERIAN AND Ynamynet informed the gathered Nexans that the Islands were probably going to be invaded sometime before the summer had passed, Derian had expected disbelief. After all, what proof did they have but a young woman’s dreams and the word of a jaguar known for being unable to sort reality from visions?

But the reliability of the report was accepted without question, and discussion moved immediately to what the Nexans could or should do about the situation.

Later, Derian would realize why the acceptance had come so easily. Unlike New World residents like himself, these people had grown to adulthood surrounded not only by people who could do magic, but by the relics of a magical past. Although in some Old World nations the reaction against magic had been almost as powerfully negative as it had been in the New World, there had been no way to erase physical reminders of what magic could do.

Even in the New World, there were reminders for those who knew where to look, most often in architecture where artifacts ranging from the light blocks built into the walls to the fantastical shapes of some buildings called to mind days when light could be had without smoke or heat, and towers could be raised to stand without visible means of support. Many of the more fantastical buildings had indeed been destroyed, but some, like the religious buildings in Liglim or the strange city within a city of Thendula Lypella in New Kelvin, remained.

In the Old World, where humans had lived for as long as any and all could remember, these architectural reminders were so prevalent that they could not be eliminated short of razing entire cities. Moreover, unlike in the New World, where the benefits of magic were restricted to those who ruled and their close associates, in the Old World magic had touched even the most ordinary of lives in the form of healing or lighting or little domestic comforts.

That routine use of magic had been gone for over a century now, but old people remained who could tell stories of things their own parents or grandparents had known or done.

So, when Isende stood up and reported in a quavering voice about her dream visions of fleets and armies, and Derian stood after her and told what Truth had said, the Nexans did not call them frauds seeking greater control than they already asserted, but politely thanked them and began addressing the situation.

Wort the Never Lived, who had once been a guard and now served the Nexus Islands as quartermaster of sorts, stood. He was a heavyset man with brown skin, wide lips and nose, and a wealth of thick, coarse black hair. He spoke from deep in his chest and his voice carried well throughout the crowded room.

“We have discussed and discussed again our position here as custodians of the Nexus Islands. I do not see how this new information has changed decisions we have made before. We decided to hold this place

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