Of Limited Loyalty by Michael A Stackpole

Author:Michael A Stackpole [Stackpole, Michael A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Historical
ISBN: 9781597802055
Google: pf_pXwAACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Published: 2011-03-15T18:54:44+00:00

Chapter Thirty-four

17 June 1767

Saint Luke

Bounty, Mystria

For Owen, whose head still throbbed because of the salksasi he’d consumed, the rasp of pen nib on paper sounded as if someone were sawing into his skull. Still, he diligently scribbled down details of the visions Nathaniel and Kamiskwa had, adding his own observations. None of them knew how long they had been wrapped up in the visions, but the day following had consisted of a purification ritual. They’d remained in the hut with a fire blazing, sweat pouring off them and dripping into wounds that stung. Only as night fell were they allowed to emerge, remove their mittens and wash themselves in the nearby stream. They drank more salksasi, had their wounds bandaged with mogiqua poultices, and were allowed to sleep.

Owen rubbed at eyes that burned. “Kamiskwa, I have your name for the golden people as Noragah. I heard it as Norghaest. Nathaniel, you heard it in the Shedashee way?”

“Up until the dragons came. Then it was as you did.”

Owen made a note. Despite hearing some words differently, and having slightly different emotional attachments to the story, the three of them had seen the same thing. The Norghaest had built an empire on magick, employing it to inflict cruelty on the Shedashee and each other. When it seemed they were invincible and at the height of their power, however, dragons came and destroyed their cities.

Even having seen Mugwump did not prepare Owen for the advent of the dragons. Not a one of them that attacked—and the sky had been blackened with them—was anything less than double Mugwump’s size. Many were quite larger, and where the Prince’s dragon had smooth scales almost like a snake’s skin, the larger dragons had thick, heavier scales with ridges that ended in horny protrusions. They fell on the Norghaest as falcons on varmints, devouring them greedily. With long claws, the winged beasts tore open Norghaest towers and rent the earth to pursue them into the undercities. The carnage would have been unimaginable, but Owen had been at Anvil Lake, and had already seen the visions of bloody orgies the Norghaest staged to entertain themselves.

The dragons’ assault drove the Golden People underground, deep underground, like termites. As the visions progressed and they witnessed the Norghaest trying to reestablish their cities, the Norghaest changed. The golden hue drained from their flesh leaving the pale grey of a mushroom. Black hair became white, and many of them lost it completely—the men, anyway, for none of the subsequent visions provided sight of the women.

Kamiskwa drank from a gourd, then lowered it. “The visions showed the patterns: first comes the earthquake. That is them opening the gates to their cities below. They send scouts to see if dragons are about. Then the next year, or the year after, they colonize the surface. If those colonies survive, they emerge in all their glory to re-create their empire.”

Nathaniel smiled. “Well, now, I done counted four times the Shedashee did some de-colonization. Only once did they get to that emerging.

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