Wagner Karl Edward - Cold Light.pdf - Kane - Karl Wagner - darmonek

eBook Version: 2.1

Cold Light

Karl Edward Wagner

The assault on the ogres' stronghold had been brutal, reflected

Gaethaa as he wearily looked over the ruins. Pulling off his

silver-trimmed helmet, he ran a bleeding hand over his grimy

face, pushing the sweat-soaked blond locks from his eyes. He

squinted through the smoke that made red the sun. Inside the

fortress walls all was one chaotic turmoil of smashed and burning

buildings, seige engines—bodies of both his men and the ogres'

retainers.

He pushed a corpse from an overturned cart and sprawled onto

the vacated space. Wincing against the pain as he sucked in a

deep breath—some bruised ribs there at best, but the cuirass had

turned the sword—Gaethaa permitted himself the tired exultation

befitting a man who has brilliantly conceived and executed a

difficult task, one fully as honorable as it was dangerous.

Credit must be given to many others, to be certain. Had it not

been for the genius of the young Tranodeli wizard, Cereb

Ak-Cetee, the sorcerous flames that guarded the ogres' walls

would not have been extinguished, nor their impenetrable

obsidian gate blasted into splintered rubble. Mollyl had been

magnificent as he led the first wave through the smouldering gap

and into the full fury of the ogres' minions. And the Red Three

had very nearly succeeded in overwhelming his soldiers, even

with the failure of their spells and the rout of their servants.

Many had been smashed and torn under the huge weapons of the

seemingly invincible ogre brothers. Then Gesell, the middle

brother, fell from the poisoned arrow which Anmuspi the Archer

threaded through the visor of his helmet. And Omsell, the oldest,

was grievously wounded from a swordthrust of the dying

Malander, and as the ogre fell to his knees, Gaethaa himself had

struck his hideous head from his shoulders. That left only Dasell,

who had been knocked senseless when he tried to leap in escape

from the fortress walls. Gaethaa had ordered him bound, and now

the ogre's twelve-foot body swung in grotesque dance, as it

dangled from a gibbet overlooking the valley that he and his

brothers had so long held in terror.

Alidore approached him through the haze, his broken arm now

roughly bandaged. You did that when you blocked Omsell's axe

from splitting me, thought Gaethaa, and vowed to make his

lieutenant a generous gift from his personal portion of the booty,

although such bravery was truly a knight's duty to his lord.

"We've got it all about mopped up, milord." Alidore had

started to salute with his other hand, but decided it would look

foolish. "Looks like we've rounded together everyone still alive

inside. Not too pretty—the Red Three must have ordered all

captives slaughtered when it was obvious that we were about to

break through the wall. So that leaves us with maybe twenty

survivors that we're holding for your orders—the last of their

soldiers and servants."

"Kill them."

Alidore paused, reluctant to dispute his leader. "Milord, most

of them swear they were forced to serve the ogres. They either

obeyed their commands or were eaten like the others."

A cold note crept into Gaethaa's voice and his face was hard.

"Most are probably lying. The others deserve worse, for they

stooped to save their own lives by becoming tools for the

enslavement and destruction of their fellow men. No, Alidore,

mercy is commendable to be sure, but when you seek to destroy

an absolute evil, you must destroy it absolutely. Show mercy in

expunging a blight, and you only leave seeds to spread it anew.

Kill them all."

Alidore turned to give the order, but Mollyl had been listening

and was already loping across the court to see it carried out. He

would enjoy that, Alidore thought in distaste, then dismissed the

Pellinite from his thoughts. He addressed Gaethaa sincerely.

"Milord, you have done a really magnificent thing here today!

For years this land has lived in abject terror of the Red Three.

Most of the countryside has been stripped bare by them, and no

one can say how many captives have ended their lives as food on

the ogres' table! With their death the area can return to life once

more—its people can farm the lands and sell their wares in peace,

and travellers can enter the valleys and pass without danger. And

here—as before when I have followed you on your

missions—you will accept nothing from the people but their

gratitude!"

Gaethaa smiled tiredly and waved him to silence. "Please,

Alidore! Save eulogies for my death. I can't bear them now.

Many have died to help me in my crusade, otherwise I could

have done nothing. They are the ones who deserve your praise.

"No," and his voice was dreamy, "my only desire is to destroy

these agents of evil. It is my goal in life, and I ask nothing in

return."

Admiration glowed on Alidore's battle-weary face. "And now

that the Red Three are destroyed, what is to be our next

mission?"

Gaethaa's voice was inspired. "As my next mission I will seek

out and destroy one of the most dangerous agents of evil that

history or legend knows. Tomorrow I will ride out for the death

of a man called Kane!"

I. Where Death Has Lain

At times the awesome curse of immortality weighed on Kane

beyond all endurance. Then he was overcome with long periods

of black despair, during which he withdrew entirely from the

world and spent his days in gloomy brooding. In such dark

depression he would remain indefinitely, his mind wandering

through the centuries it had watched, while within there cried

unanswered a longing for peace. Ultimately some new diversion,

some chance of fate, some abrupt reversal of spirit, would cut

through his hopeless despair and send him forth once again into

the world of men. Then cold despair would melt before the black

heat of his defiance against the ancient god who had cursed him.

It happened that such a mood had seized Kane when he came

to Sebbei. He had just fled the deserts of Lomarn, where his

bandits had for a few months been plundering rich caravans and

laying waste to the scattered oasis towns. An ingenious trap had

cut down most of Kane's forces, and he had fled westward into

the ghost land of Demornte. Here his enemies would not follow,

for the plague which had annihilated this nation was still held in

utmost dread, and although it had struck this desert locked land

nearly two decades before, still no one entered and no one left

silent Demornte.

Dead Demornte. Demornte whose towns lie empty, whose

farms are slowly returning to forest. Demornte where death has

lain and life will no more linger. Land of death where only

shadows move in empty cities, where the living are but a handful

to the countless dead. Demornte where ghosts stalk silent streets

in step with the living, where the living walk side by side with

their ghosts. And a man must look closely to tell one from the

other.

When the great deserts of Lartroxia West and Lomarn to the

east had been carved from the earth, some freak of nature had

spared Demornte. Here, shouldered between two mighty deserts,

green land had held out against scorched sand, and a considerable

region of gently rolling hills and cool lakes had sheltered

thousands of inhabitants under its low forests. It had been as a

giant oasis, Demornte, and its people had lived pleasantly,

working their many small farms and trading with the great

caravans that crossed the deserts from east and west.

The plague had ridden with one such caravan, a plague such as

these lands had never seen. Perhaps in the faraway land from

which it had come, the people had formed a resistance to the

disease. But here in fertile Demornte it sped like the wind

throughout the green land, and thousands burned in its fevered

delirium, screaming for water they could not swallow.

Desert locked Demornte. The plague could not cross the sands,

so its fury fell fully on this peaceful world. And when it had run

its course at last, peace returned to Demornte. The land became

one vast tomb and knew the quiet of the tomb, for rarely were

Wagner Karl Edward - Cold Light.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: