extensive.
How far- Jask inquired, pointing stupidly, his slim hand trembling before him.
A hundred miles, Tedesco said.
That much?
The bruin seemed humbled by the display fully as much as Jask was. Perhaps twice or three times that, he said.
So bright.
Even brighter by dark, Tedesco said. Likely, it is no older than the formation that stands outside my village-but has found some richness in the soil or the air, or in some other circumstance, which caused it to sprawl so.
The Ruiner caused it, Jask said, adamant.
Tedesco said, There is no such creature. He turned away from the soaring wall of luminescence, looked both ways along the barren no- man's-land between the stunted woods and the Wildlands. We seem to be alone.
Jask said nothing. As Tedesco stood and beckoned him to follow, as they stepped out onto the dark, dead soil, he drew his knife, looked at the blade and wondered where best to drive it into himself. He did not want to linger. He wished a swift death.
His suicidal reverie was interrupted by a barked, military command in a voice he knew too well: the General. An instant later the sound of prewar weaponry ripped apart the stillness of the borderland as the Pure soldiers sought to get the espers properly in their sights.
Quickly! Tedesco shouted.
The earth boiled up, foamed like a mad creature, settled into slag at Jask's feet.
Unthinking, terrified, he leaped across the molten pool and ran after the lumbering man-bear.
The General issued another command.
A bolt of energy caught one of the reaching tips of the wavelike upper structure of the bacteria jewels, shattered that into a fine, bright dust, like glassy snow that settled over them.
Here! Tedesco called, turning, standing beside one of the larger channels between the arms of bright crystals.
Jask ran toward him.
Tedesco opened fire on the soldiers who had ventured out onto the baked surface of the unfertile land. One man screamed, danced backward, brought down, flaming, by a weapon he had never expected a tainted creature to possess. Another, decapitated by the bruin's second shot, stumbled forward, spouting blood, waving arms that were no longer intelligently directed; after a few erratic steps, the corpse collapsed into a gory bundle, gripping fingers frozen as if they wished to scratch a burrow in the soil.
A beam burst against the wall of jewels next to Jask, cored it, reaming out chips of glassy stuff.
A moment later Jask leapt into the opening and kept on running, the roar of the battle deafening as the crystals picked it up, amplified it, gave the illusion that an army bayed at his heels.
He ran for several minutes, following the winding course of this channel of the great labyrinth, until, at last, he stumbled, exhausted, and fell to his knees on the polished floor.
Tedesco was right behind him. They won't follow, the mutant gasped, leaning back against a sunburst of blues and greens, made larger than life by the colorful backdrop.
It was then that Jask realized he had entered the Chen Valley Blight, the Wildlands, where the Ruiner reigned supreme. In his panic he had forgotten all about suicide. He had even lost his knife.
11
THE Watcher stirs restlessly, though its slumber is profound.
Temporarily withdrawn from thought of any kind, it feeds mindlessly on the web of forces that contains it, replenishes energies of the soul that have been wasted by years of waiting, centuries of anticipation
In time, it will wake.
It must.
Perhaps its sleep will end naturally, at the time it has planned to arise from its bed.
Or perhaps it will be stirred to consciousness by a strengthening of sympathetic psionic resonances that have just now pricked it for the first time.
The Watcher is meant to watch and wait.
Even a Watcher, however, must sometimes rest.
It stirs, sighs, subsides, feeds and continues its long nap
12
THE whites of Tedesco's eyes were green, and the wrinkled
How far- Jask inquired, pointing stupidly, his slim hand trembling before him.
A hundred miles, Tedesco said.
That much?
The bruin seemed humbled by the display fully as much as Jask was. Perhaps twice or three times that, he said.
So bright.
Even brighter by dark, Tedesco said. Likely, it is no older than the formation that stands outside my village-but has found some richness in the soil or the air, or in some other circumstance, which caused it to sprawl so.
The Ruiner caused it, Jask said, adamant.
Tedesco said, There is no such creature. He turned away from the soaring wall of luminescence, looked both ways along the barren no- man's-land between the stunted woods and the Wildlands. We seem to be alone.
Jask said nothing. As Tedesco stood and beckoned him to follow, as they stepped out onto the dark, dead soil, he drew his knife, looked at the blade and wondered where best to drive it into himself. He did not want to linger. He wished a swift death.
His suicidal reverie was interrupted by a barked, military command in a voice he knew too well: the General. An instant later the sound of prewar weaponry ripped apart the stillness of the borderland as the Pure soldiers sought to get the espers properly in their sights.
Quickly! Tedesco shouted.
The earth boiled up, foamed like a mad creature, settled into slag at Jask's feet.
Unthinking, terrified, he leaped across the molten pool and ran after the lumbering man-bear.
The General issued another command.
A bolt of energy caught one of the reaching tips of the wavelike upper structure of the bacteria jewels, shattered that into a fine, bright dust, like glassy snow that settled over them.
Here! Tedesco called, turning, standing beside one of the larger channels between the arms of bright crystals.
Jask ran toward him.
Tedesco opened fire on the soldiers who had ventured out onto the baked surface of the unfertile land. One man screamed, danced backward, brought down, flaming, by a weapon he had never expected a tainted creature to possess. Another, decapitated by the bruin's second shot, stumbled forward, spouting blood, waving arms that were no longer intelligently directed; after a few erratic steps, the corpse collapsed into a gory bundle, gripping fingers frozen as if they wished to scratch a burrow in the soil.
A beam burst against the wall of jewels next to Jask, cored it, reaming out chips of glassy stuff.
A moment later Jask leapt into the opening and kept on running, the roar of the battle deafening as the crystals picked it up, amplified it, gave the illusion that an army bayed at his heels.
He ran for several minutes, following the winding course of this channel of the great labyrinth, until, at last, he stumbled, exhausted, and fell to his knees on the polished floor.
Tedesco was right behind him. They won't follow, the mutant gasped, leaning back against a sunburst of blues and greens, made larger than life by the colorful backdrop.
It was then that Jask realized he had entered the Chen Valley Blight, the Wildlands, where the Ruiner reigned supreme. In his panic he had forgotten all about suicide. He had even lost his knife.
11
THE Watcher stirs restlessly, though its slumber is profound.
Temporarily withdrawn from thought of any kind, it feeds mindlessly on the web of forces that contains it, replenishes energies of the soul that have been wasted by years of waiting, centuries of anticipation
In time, it will wake.
It must.
Perhaps its sleep will end naturally, at the time it has planned to arise from its bed.
Or perhaps it will be stirred to consciousness by a strengthening of sympathetic psionic resonances that have just now pricked it for the first time.
The Watcher is meant to watch and wait.
Even a Watcher, however, must sometimes rest.
It stirs, sighs, subsides, feeds and continues its long nap
12
THE whites of Tedesco's eyes were green, and the wrinkled
Similar Books
Seduce
Lexi Buchanan
Sacrifice to the Emerald God
Paul Blades
DEAD & BURIED a gripping crime thriller full of twists
Helen H. Durrant
Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories
Jean Shepherd
A Midwinter Fantasy
L. J. McDonald, Leanna Renee Hieber, Helen Scott Taylor
Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld)
Nina Croft
Becoming His Slave
Talon P. S., Ayla Stephan
Dangerous to Hold
Merline Lovelace
The Mind (The Reluctant Romantics #1.5)
Kate Stewart
The Ethical Slut
Dossie Easton