Read Online Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 5 - The Cerulean Storm by Troy Denning - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Troy Denning
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wish.”
The shadow giant began to shrink. He quickly lost his human shape and melted onto the
floor like a puddle of black water. Sadira waited until his blue eyes and mouth
disappeared, then dropped to her knees and pressed her palms into the center of the dark
stain that had been Khidar. The cold she felt was not that of the stone. It was more
bitter and biting, numbing her flesh to the bone and stiffening her joints so that she
could hardly bend her ringers.
“Caelum, keep Wyan out of the light!” she yelled, not looking up.
“I'll burn him to cinders if I see him poke so much as his nose out!” the dwarf promised.
Sadira uttered a string of mystic syllables and her hands sank into the Black up to her
elbows.
“Lady Laaj, Cybrian, take my hands!” Sadira directed her words at the floor, and began to
shiver as the circle of shadow slowly contracted around her arms. “I'm here to help you!”
Whispers of astonishment echoed down from the galleries as the advisors started to return
to the floor, but Sadira hardly noticed. Her whole body ached with cold, and her teeth
chattered uncontrollably. She began to fear that the noblewoman and templar had been gone
too long, that the Black had turned their bodies into frozen lumps of flesh.
Then, as the stain on the floor contracted to no more than a pair of small circles around
her arms, Sadira felt a weight at the end of each hand. Her frozen flesh no longer had any
sensation of touch, so the sorceress had no way of knowing whether or not the missing
advisors had finally found her. Nevertheless, she willed her fingers to close, not sure
whether the digits were obeying her wishes, and rose.
As Sadira pulled her arms from the floor, each of the dark circles around them expanded to
the size of a human body. Out of the shadowy stains came the shivering forms of the two
advisors. Their flesh was as pale and shiny as alabaster, and their muscles were so stiff
that their own legs would not support them. With each breath, plumes of white steam rose
from between their quivering lips, and hundreds of gleaming ice crystals clung to their
clothes.
Murmuring reticent words of gratitude, several allies of the two advisors stepped forward
to take their shivering friends from Sadira's arms. Charl studied the sorceress
thoughtfully, then asked, “Why'd you do that? You already got the vote you wanted.”
Sadira shook her head. “No,” she said. “Not the one I wanted-only the one I needed. If
Khidar had taken any more of you, I wouldn't have been able to pull you all back.”
“Then you really meant what you said about not taking the legion if it was coerced from
us?”
Sadira nodded. “And what I said about leaving Tyr before I would be part of betraying
Agis.”
The sorceress started to turn toward the exit, but Charl caught her by the arm. “Wait a
minute. Tyr can't afford to lose a citizen like you,” he said. “If we let you take the
legion to fulfill the boy's destiny, can you really keep the giants away from the city?”
“Yes,” Sadira replied. “And if we can't, not only will we send the legion back, Rikus and
I will return to fight with it.”
Charl raised his finger to summon the wrab. “Then before you leave, there's one more vote
we should take.”
Chapter Four: The Cloud Road
Neeva crawled forward on the Cloud Road, a long ribbon of black slate hanging across the
face of an enormous cliff. She reached the jagged brink where a section of the bridge had
fallen away, and peered down into an arid valley. Far below lay the missing section of
road, a jumble of broken rockwork strewn across a drift of red sand. The warrior saw no
indication of what had caused the collapse, only a handful of limestone buttresses
half-buried beneath shattered slabs of paving stone.
“This road's as old as Tyr,” she growled, more to herself than the companions waiting
The shadow giant began to shrink. He quickly lost his human shape and melted onto the
floor like a puddle of black water. Sadira waited until his blue eyes and mouth
disappeared, then dropped to her knees and pressed her palms into the center of the dark
stain that had been Khidar. The cold she felt was not that of the stone. It was more
bitter and biting, numbing her flesh to the bone and stiffening her joints so that she
could hardly bend her ringers.
“Caelum, keep Wyan out of the light!” she yelled, not looking up.
“I'll burn him to cinders if I see him poke so much as his nose out!” the dwarf promised.
Sadira uttered a string of mystic syllables and her hands sank into the Black up to her
elbows.
“Lady Laaj, Cybrian, take my hands!” Sadira directed her words at the floor, and began to
shiver as the circle of shadow slowly contracted around her arms. “I'm here to help you!”
Whispers of astonishment echoed down from the galleries as the advisors started to return
to the floor, but Sadira hardly noticed. Her whole body ached with cold, and her teeth
chattered uncontrollably. She began to fear that the noblewoman and templar had been gone
too long, that the Black had turned their bodies into frozen lumps of flesh.
Then, as the stain on the floor contracted to no more than a pair of small circles around
her arms, Sadira felt a weight at the end of each hand. Her frozen flesh no longer had any
sensation of touch, so the sorceress had no way of knowing whether or not the missing
advisors had finally found her. Nevertheless, she willed her fingers to close, not sure
whether the digits were obeying her wishes, and rose.
As Sadira pulled her arms from the floor, each of the dark circles around them expanded to
the size of a human body. Out of the shadowy stains came the shivering forms of the two
advisors. Their flesh was as pale and shiny as alabaster, and their muscles were so stiff
that their own legs would not support them. With each breath, plumes of white steam rose
from between their quivering lips, and hundreds of gleaming ice crystals clung to their
clothes.
Murmuring reticent words of gratitude, several allies of the two advisors stepped forward
to take their shivering friends from Sadira's arms. Charl studied the sorceress
thoughtfully, then asked, “Why'd you do that? You already got the vote you wanted.”
Sadira shook her head. “No,” she said. “Not the one I wanted-only the one I needed. If
Khidar had taken any more of you, I wouldn't have been able to pull you all back.”
“Then you really meant what you said about not taking the legion if it was coerced from
us?”
Sadira nodded. “And what I said about leaving Tyr before I would be part of betraying
Agis.”
The sorceress started to turn toward the exit, but Charl caught her by the arm. “Wait a
minute. Tyr can't afford to lose a citizen like you,” he said. “If we let you take the
legion to fulfill the boy's destiny, can you really keep the giants away from the city?”
“Yes,” Sadira replied. “And if we can't, not only will we send the legion back, Rikus and
I will return to fight with it.”
Charl raised his finger to summon the wrab. “Then before you leave, there's one more vote
we should take.”
Chapter Four: The Cloud Road
Neeva crawled forward on the Cloud Road, a long ribbon of black slate hanging across the
face of an enormous cliff. She reached the jagged brink where a section of the bridge had
fallen away, and peered down into an arid valley. Far below lay the missing section of
road, a jumble of broken rockwork strewn across a drift of red sand. The warrior saw no
indication of what had caused the collapse, only a handful of limestone buttresses
half-buried beneath shattered slabs of paving stone.
“This road's as old as Tyr,” she growled, more to herself than the companions waiting
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