(eng) Michael G. Manning - Embers of Illeniel 03 by Betrayer's Bane

Author:Betrayer's Bane [Bane, Betrayer's]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

The probabilities have collapsed, stated the First among the Illeniel Elders. We face the worst outcome.

Not the worst, said another. The worst is complete annihilation.

We should give up this course, said one of the youngest, an elder barely five hundred years old. There is time to find another solution.

You are naïve, objected the most senior.

Two millennia, that is a long time. We cannot be sure there is no other answer, continued the optimist.

Only to you, scoffed a new voice. We might prosper for two thousand years, but it will be for naught once the enemy finds us again.

Perhaps we can shift things once more. The better possibilities might resurface if we interfere.

And our last chance for survival might disappear completely, cautioned another.

Enough, said the First. Our doom fell when Ceylendor was permitted to examine the humans. We must accept our fate.

Even though we all perish? asked the youngest.

Our survival in the present means nothing if our kind become completely extinct two thousand years from now, rebuked one of them.

We must protect his child.

Which, the one with our gift or the one that bears our wisdom?

They were supposed to be the same.

But they are not, we must deal with what is, not what might have been.

Can we not save both?

That is unclear, pronounced the First. We can try, but the one bearing our wisdom must be the priority. We can more easily replace the one with the gift.

There is little time.

Another has been prepared already. It sleeps. If the need arises we can insure it awakes at the proper time, stated the First.

Why were we not told before?

Because I hoped it would not be necessary, admitted the First.

Surely we could prepare our children in the same fashion?

Humanity’s grudge will not allow it. We must fade from their memories or they will destroy our hope, said the First with a hint of sadness.

***

Tyrion’s belly felt as though it was on fire, yet he felt cold. Holding up one hand he stared at it. It was grotesquely swollen and he could not remember the last time he had felt the need to empty his bladder. His body was filling with fluid, and yet he still felt an unquenchable thirst.

My kidneys have shut down, and possibly my liver as well, he noted fuzzily. Madness cannot be far behind. The toxins in his blood would drown his sanity soon, not that he held much stock in the worth of sanity.

“I think this is the place,” said Brigid. It had been a long time since she had been so near home. As a child, she had not thought to try and memorize the place, but she was reasonably certain that the small cottage on the sloping hillside above them was that of Helen and Alan Tennick, Tyrion’s parents. “There are two people inside.”

He tried to focus his magesight, to see them once more, but while he could recognize their aythar he couldn’t see them clearly. “You found it,” he affirmed.

Brigid looked troubled, “Do you wish to visit them?”

“No, that would only create more trouble,” he said.

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