Read Online Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds by Ian Irvine - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ian Irvine
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Rulke lay motionless, unable to find the way out of the trance. It was up to
her. She fired up every painful, shocking and horrible emotion she had ever
felt, mixed them up with her disgust and terror of the amorphous thing now
flapping at her face, and bounced them back and forth between the mirrors of
her mind, amplifying them at every turn, until they burst out in all
directions, emotions so strong and raw that no one could resist them.
Rulke jerked as if he had taken hold of an electric eel and fell off the
construct, hitting his head so hard that she was sure he had fractured his
skull. However he turned over and came to hands and knees. 'Karan?' he said
dazedly.
Help! she screamed over the link, since her mouth was full of leech.
He crawled towards her, ever so slowly. With bare hands he ripped the
void-leech off her face and flung it at the Wall. It splattered into jelly
that slid down, already collecting itself together for another assault.
Hauling himself back onto the construct, he spun an aiming wheel then fell
against a purple knob. Light roared out of the front and boiled the creature
into a sickly sweet-smelling vapour.
It burned a crater right through the Wall. A bulge appeared in the fabric of
the Forbidding, then another. An arm thrust through the hole and out leapt the
most frightening thing Karan had ever seen. She felt the shock in Rulke's
mind, the memory of long ago: thranx! It leapt at them and its great
shoulder struck the construct, rattling that massive machine like a child's
toy.
Karan was slow to move. Her brain seemed to have lost the ability to control
her body. Experimenting with crawling, she lifted an arm and a leg at the same
time and toppled on her side like a baby. Her belly ached; her head spun. She
rolled sideways and tried to look like a piece of rubble, and knew that she
didn't.
The thranx went after Rulke, who was still clinging to his seat. A crack of
leather wings propelled it up on top of the construct, where it lunged at him.
He ducked, the construct rolled and he fell off again. The thranx leapt after
him, landed with a thud that shook the tower and slashed at Rulke with long
yellow claws. He scuttled backwards, darting and ducking around the other
side, and sprang from the floor up into his seat. Yellow light came out of a
rod at the front, searing the thranx's thigh and melting part of a low wall
behind it.
The thranx reared up, its wings soaring so high that they touched the mess of
tangled roof beams suspended above them. Though it made no sound, it screwed
up its face and clenched its fists. For an instant Karan sensed its agony, its
desperation to get out of the void and find a safe place to nest. Its emotions
flashed and faded like misty breath on a window. Karan was confounded. Its
fears and longings were similar to her own.
The light touched the winged creature's thigh again, tracing a fiery line
towards its groin. The thranx made a sound like a scalded cat, sprang at an
embrasure which was too small and went out the side of Carcharon in an
explosion ofbroken stone. Part of the wall collapsed behind it. The wind
howled in through the new opening. Karan crawled into the rubble pile as other
creatures strained against the gossamer walls of the Forbidding. She was too
exhausted to blink.
The dark moon shone straight down through the broken roof of the tower - it
was midnight. Momentarily Rulke
wrestled with some hideous, many-clawed and fanged beast that appeared out of
nowhere. It got away from him and leapt towards Karan, who scurried up onto
the rubble, desperate to get out of its reach. 'Karan, here!' Rulke shouted,
tossing her the knife he had taken a week ago.
She caught it and ran up a slender beam, but the creature jumped on the other
end, flicking her hard against the wall. The knife fell into the rubble, out
of reach. She lay winded as the creature crept toward her.
The commotion had brought a squad of
Rulke lay motionless, unable to find the way out of the trance. It was up to
her. She fired up every painful, shocking and horrible emotion she had ever
felt, mixed them up with her disgust and terror of the amorphous thing now
flapping at her face, and bounced them back and forth between the mirrors of
her mind, amplifying them at every turn, until they burst out in all
directions, emotions so strong and raw that no one could resist them.
Rulke jerked as if he had taken hold of an electric eel and fell off the
construct, hitting his head so hard that she was sure he had fractured his
skull. However he turned over and came to hands and knees. 'Karan?' he said
dazedly.
Help! she screamed over the link, since her mouth was full of leech.
He crawled towards her, ever so slowly. With bare hands he ripped the
void-leech off her face and flung it at the Wall. It splattered into jelly
that slid down, already collecting itself together for another assault.
Hauling himself back onto the construct, he spun an aiming wheel then fell
against a purple knob. Light roared out of the front and boiled the creature
into a sickly sweet-smelling vapour.
It burned a crater right through the Wall. A bulge appeared in the fabric of
the Forbidding, then another. An arm thrust through the hole and out leapt the
most frightening thing Karan had ever seen. She felt the shock in Rulke's
mind, the memory of long ago: thranx! It leapt at them and its great
shoulder struck the construct, rattling that massive machine like a child's
toy.
Karan was slow to move. Her brain seemed to have lost the ability to control
her body. Experimenting with crawling, she lifted an arm and a leg at the same
time and toppled on her side like a baby. Her belly ached; her head spun. She
rolled sideways and tried to look like a piece of rubble, and knew that she
didn't.
The thranx went after Rulke, who was still clinging to his seat. A crack of
leather wings propelled it up on top of the construct, where it lunged at him.
He ducked, the construct rolled and he fell off again. The thranx leapt after
him, landed with a thud that shook the tower and slashed at Rulke with long
yellow claws. He scuttled backwards, darting and ducking around the other
side, and sprang from the floor up into his seat. Yellow light came out of a
rod at the front, searing the thranx's thigh and melting part of a low wall
behind it.
The thranx reared up, its wings soaring so high that they touched the mess of
tangled roof beams suspended above them. Though it made no sound, it screwed
up its face and clenched its fists. For an instant Karan sensed its agony, its
desperation to get out of the void and find a safe place to nest. Its emotions
flashed and faded like misty breath on a window. Karan was confounded. Its
fears and longings were similar to her own.
The light touched the winged creature's thigh again, tracing a fiery line
towards its groin. The thranx made a sound like a scalded cat, sprang at an
embrasure which was too small and went out the side of Carcharon in an
explosion ofbroken stone. Part of the wall collapsed behind it. The wind
howled in through the new opening. Karan crawled into the rubble pile as other
creatures strained against the gossamer walls of the Forbidding. She was too
exhausted to blink.
The dark moon shone straight down through the broken roof of the tower - it
was midnight. Momentarily Rulke
wrestled with some hideous, many-clawed and fanged beast that appeared out of
nowhere. It got away from him and leapt towards Karan, who scurried up onto
the rubble, desperate to get out of its reach. 'Karan, here!' Rulke shouted,
tossing her the knife he had taken a week ago.
She caught it and ran up a slender beam, but the creature jumped on the other
end, flicking her hard against the wall. The knife fell into the rubble, out
of reach. She lay winded as the creature crept toward her.
The commotion had brought a squad of
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