Read Online Hand of the Hunter: Chosen of Nendawen, Book II by Mark Sehestedt - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mark Sehestedt
Ads: Link
words.
Hweilan forced herself to her feet, but the spiders surrounded her. She didn’t dare try to rush between them, and she knew she wasn’t strong enough to leap over.
“Kesh Naan!” she screamed. Her side screamed at the movement, but she bit back a scream and forced herself to stay put. “Please. Gleed sent me to you.”
A sharp hiss from the nearest and largest spider. Nothing remotely human in it. Hweilan swallowed and decided to try another tactic.
“The Master sent me,” she said.
Hweilan held her breath. Silence.
“You must teach me!”
The spiders surged into movement, so quickly that Hweilan screamed. But they weren’t coming for her. All of the giant black monsters leaped onto each other, their legs scrambling in a writhing mass, faster and faster until they blurred together into a swirl of blackness. Before her eyes, the blackness took shape.
Kesh Naan stood before her, clothed in the gossamer-fine threads of darkness. “You wish to
Know
, girl?” she said.
Had Kesh Naan moved toward her, Hweilan might have scrambled away. But the woman just stood there, looking at her, the slightest curve of a smile on her lips.
“You desire … en-light-en-ment?” She broke the last word into pieces, emphasizing each syllable. “You ask for Lore.
Ahwen
in the sacred speech. Say it.”
“
Ahwen.
”
“And why do you desire this?”
Truth be told, Hweilan didn’t. The only thing she desired at this moment was to be far away. Even Gleed’s dank towerseemed a paradise compared to this nightmare. So she said the only thing she could think of. “Th-the Master sent me. Nendawen.”
“Yes,” said Kesh Naan. “But why are you here?”
“I … I don’t know.”
Kesh Naan smiled—fully this time, revealing gums pale as her skin and teeth black as onyx. She raised both hands, palm outward. “I smell the lie in that, girl.”
“I—”
“Truth now. Has fear so clouded your mind that you forget? Let me help you. What is the one thing you desire most? If you could have only one thing right now, what would that be?”
“Vengeance,” she said it without thinking.
“Truth at last. But know this: The Master is not one to bargain. You do not make demands of the Master of the Hunt. Obey him, or do not. There is no middle ground.”
“My family—”
“Vengeance will not bring them back. It will not ease your pain.”
“Jagun Ghen killed my family!”
“Ah,” said Kesh Naan. “Now we come to it. Jagun Ghen killed your family. Do you know why?”
Hweilan could not look away. The woman’s eyes … depthless. But they held her. Hweilan opened her mouth, but before she could speak—
“The truth now,” said Kesh Naan. “Only the truth.”
And so she spoke the truth: “I don’t know.”
“You will,” said Kesh Naan. She clapped her hands. Just once, but it filled the air like the crack of a whip.
And the spiders came. Thousands of them. Millions. Dropping from the ceiling and running across the floor, covering Hweilan’s skin, crawling into her ears and nose. She rolled and thrashed, crushing hundreds, desperate to shake them off. But for every dozen she managed to smash or shake loose, a hundred more took their place. Their tiny legs did no more than tickle, but their fangs—
They bit, again and again and again. One of them surely would have done no harm, been no more than an irritation. But thousands biting her at once—
Hweilan screamed.
Spiders swarmed into her mouth, biting and biting and biting …
Lights exploded in Hweilan’s mind. Each tiny bite bringing a spark, every flicker its own unique color, every one trying to swallow all her other senses.
She let them.
C HAPTER FIVE
O N THE N ORTHERN I CE THE WINTER DARK LASTED for months, and even high summer could not melt the frost. Yet still people managed not only to survive there, but to thrive in their own way. It was a hard land, and the people harder still, but even so, Jatara could remember a time when
Hweilan forced herself to her feet, but the spiders surrounded her. She didn’t dare try to rush between them, and she knew she wasn’t strong enough to leap over.
“Kesh Naan!” she screamed. Her side screamed at the movement, but she bit back a scream and forced herself to stay put. “Please. Gleed sent me to you.”
A sharp hiss from the nearest and largest spider. Nothing remotely human in it. Hweilan swallowed and decided to try another tactic.
“The Master sent me,” she said.
Hweilan held her breath. Silence.
“You must teach me!”
The spiders surged into movement, so quickly that Hweilan screamed. But they weren’t coming for her. All of the giant black monsters leaped onto each other, their legs scrambling in a writhing mass, faster and faster until they blurred together into a swirl of blackness. Before her eyes, the blackness took shape.
Kesh Naan stood before her, clothed in the gossamer-fine threads of darkness. “You wish to
Know
, girl?” she said.
Had Kesh Naan moved toward her, Hweilan might have scrambled away. But the woman just stood there, looking at her, the slightest curve of a smile on her lips.
“You desire … en-light-en-ment?” She broke the last word into pieces, emphasizing each syllable. “You ask for Lore.
Ahwen
in the sacred speech. Say it.”
“
Ahwen.
”
“And why do you desire this?”
Truth be told, Hweilan didn’t. The only thing she desired at this moment was to be far away. Even Gleed’s dank towerseemed a paradise compared to this nightmare. So she said the only thing she could think of. “Th-the Master sent me. Nendawen.”
“Yes,” said Kesh Naan. “But why are you here?”
“I … I don’t know.”
Kesh Naan smiled—fully this time, revealing gums pale as her skin and teeth black as onyx. She raised both hands, palm outward. “I smell the lie in that, girl.”
“I—”
“Truth now. Has fear so clouded your mind that you forget? Let me help you. What is the one thing you desire most? If you could have only one thing right now, what would that be?”
“Vengeance,” she said it without thinking.
“Truth at last. But know this: The Master is not one to bargain. You do not make demands of the Master of the Hunt. Obey him, or do not. There is no middle ground.”
“My family—”
“Vengeance will not bring them back. It will not ease your pain.”
“Jagun Ghen killed my family!”
“Ah,” said Kesh Naan. “Now we come to it. Jagun Ghen killed your family. Do you know why?”
Hweilan could not look away. The woman’s eyes … depthless. But they held her. Hweilan opened her mouth, but before she could speak—
“The truth now,” said Kesh Naan. “Only the truth.”
And so she spoke the truth: “I don’t know.”
“You will,” said Kesh Naan. She clapped her hands. Just once, but it filled the air like the crack of a whip.
And the spiders came. Thousands of them. Millions. Dropping from the ceiling and running across the floor, covering Hweilan’s skin, crawling into her ears and nose. She rolled and thrashed, crushing hundreds, desperate to shake them off. But for every dozen she managed to smash or shake loose, a hundred more took their place. Their tiny legs did no more than tickle, but their fangs—
They bit, again and again and again. One of them surely would have done no harm, been no more than an irritation. But thousands biting her at once—
Hweilan screamed.
Spiders swarmed into her mouth, biting and biting and biting …
Lights exploded in Hweilan’s mind. Each tiny bite bringing a spark, every flicker its own unique color, every one trying to swallow all her other senses.
She let them.
C HAPTER FIVE
O N THE N ORTHERN I CE THE WINTER DARK LASTED for months, and even high summer could not melt the frost. Yet still people managed not only to survive there, but to thrive in their own way. It was a hard land, and the people harder still, but even so, Jatara could remember a time when
Similar Books
