Raven's Shadow by Patricia Briggs

Author:Patricia Briggs
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Fantasy - General, Fantasy fiction, Married people, Fiction - Fantasy, Fiction, Fantasy, Wizards, General, Epic, Veterans, Good and evil
ISBN: 9780441011872
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 2004-09-15T03:39:16+00:00

Chapter 9

They came for him shortly after Myrceria left.

Tier set the lute down, and stood up when the door opened to admit five men in black robes like the one Telleridge had worn. Their hoods were pulled down over their faces and they walked in as if they each had a predetermined place to stand. Tier had the oddest feeling that they did not see him at all.

They took up positions around him. One after the other they began chanting, a low, droning, off-pitch sound that he could not decipher because the words they used belonged to no’ language he’d ever heard. Magic, he knew, but he was helpless to stop them because of Telleridge’s command.

As one, they raised their hands above their heads and clapped ...

He awoke lying on the floor, naked and sweating. The memory of pain lent nausea to the cacophony of tingling body parts. He sat up, frantically trying to remember what had happened after the wizards had clapped their hands, but the thought of the sound made his ears ring.

They had taken his memories. Even so, there were things that he knew, as if the events he couldn’t Page 116

remember had left a visceral residue on his body. He’d been violated, not physically raped but something that was a near kin.

He sat up straight and held his head like a wolf scenting a hare. He remembered that, remembered someone telling Mm ... remembered Telleridge telling him that he would not know what had happened.

Owls had very good memories.

Tier’s lips drew back in a snarl. Hatred was a foreign emotion to him. He’d fought for years against an enemy he was told to hate, but he’d never found anything in his heart but a grim determination to persevere. The Fahlarn were not wicked, just wrongly ambitious. He had seen people do terrible things because of stupidity, ignorance, anger, but he’d never met evil before.

Now he was befouled by it

Staggering to his feet, he looked for his clothing. When he was clothed he could feel less vulnerable.

They’d taken his memories and his magic, but surely they would leave him clothes.

A cursory search of the room turned up a tunic and pants, though not his own. They were looser in fit than he was used to and darker colored: Traveler clothes for their pet Traveler. Nevertheless, he pulled them on quickly.

Instinctively he looked for something he could use to clean himself, and noticed there was no water in the room. Even as he regretted the lack, he knew that it wouldn’t have mattered if they’d left him in the bathing room—the filth that coated him could not be cleaned that way.

His gaze fell upon the lute.

No matter how fine the instrument, a lute always needed tuning. He sat down beside it and cradled it to him.

There were eight courses on this instrument, two strings per course except for the highest note, and this lute hadn’t been properly tuned in a while. As he settled into the familiar chore, the shaky, frightened feeling in his stomach began to settle.

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