Eldar Prophecy by C.S. Goto

Author:C.S. Goto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN: KHUKULYN

Standing at the bottom of the cracked steps of the Spider Temple looking up at the broken crescent doors, Khukulyn waited with trepidation in his heart. The injured and unsteady weight of Scilti still hung from his shoulder, and other eldar of the domain were already beginning to gather around them. Rumours of the arrival of the farseer had spread quickly through the forests, and many had heard the violence that had shaken the temple. Dozens of eldar from different dhanir had gathered in the clearing below the crumbling temple, and more were joining them all the time. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation, as though the crowd knew that something momentous was about to happen.

Like the others, Khukulyn had been told the stories of the Wraith Spider - the fabled Lhykosidae - in his youth. He knew the myths about the fantastical origins and the fatefulness of the appearance of the strange entity, but he had never really believed them. He had always preferred to trust in the real, material strength of his own witchblades. He had followed Bedwyr into uncountable battles without the need for anything mythical or supernatural to strengthen his arm. Devotion to one’s lord and his house was a reward in itself, and to place one’s faith elsewhere was either a mistake of vanity or fear. Loyalty was earned by valour and action, not merely by the appearance of shimmering golden armour. The youthful Scilti had earned his place at the head of the house in his battle with the Guardians of the Reach. The infantile Naois had proven nothing, and this was not the time for chasing ghosts, no matter whose ghosts they were.

He was not sure what had happened to Bedwyr’s son in the sanctum, but he was not about to bow to a fiction just because of the compelling aesthetic of the legend. He would require some kind of proof. He chastised his own weakness when he realised that he had dropped to his knees when Naois had taken his place on the throne. He had been awed by the spectacle, but he was not one of the effete Knavir that would dote merely because of beauty or the emotional resonance of a tale. Truth was to be found at the tip of a sword, not scraped out of a mythical history with an artisan’s chisel.

A hush descended on the crowd as Naois and Ela walked out of the ruined gates. The inspiring figure of Exarch Aingeal emerged from the interior of the temple behind them, and beside him, leaning heavily on his staff as though on the point of collapsing shuffled the farseer. In a triumph of theatre, the four figures halted on the top step, bathed in the scene before them.

Khukulyn could feel the will of the assembled eldar; they wanted to believe that these childlings were their saviours. There was desperation in the air, born of years of deprivation and a new panic caused by the ruination of the Spider Temple and the sudden arrival of the farseer.

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.