Read Online Norton, Andre - Chapbook 04 by Serpent's Tooth (v1.0) - Free Book Online
Authors: Serpent's Tooth (v1.0)
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moved
toward the lip of the pool. Also ... his
feet no longer obeyed his will, instead they carried him forward.
Though
the Betweeners no longer owned any god or goddess,
they still believed in a force for good and one for evil. The Speakers had told of old days when
certain strong people, both male and female, reached such heights of control
that they could command even stones to move. Those were of yesteryear and few
believed their like might even have lived. Rather most Betweeners said inwardly that such
were but creatures of legends cast into words by early Speakers to give the clans
some fear of the unknown and thus limit their wandering.
" Essar , Roqued , Alsa ..." To
drown out Modic's call or summons without words Rentam roared full throatedly those names of great bravery and supreme command. He bent his mind toward the battle with raw
fear, worked for the control of his body. To that purpose he repeated the roll of Sacred Dead in a battle
song. The serpent thing was moving. It drew
back its head, tensed muscles, and then ... Like a journey staff used as a
lance, the head flashed toward Rentam . By the thickness of a bavard leaf only did it miss seizing upon him.
Modic shrilled that cry a second time. The sound got inside Rentam's head to cause a new kind of pain.
" Essar !" he
shouted back, or did he?
Was
it true that he was answered, or merely that the tone and pitch of his voice
cut through the sound spell Modic was weaving? Rentam might never
know. Anymore than he could tell why and
how the warmth in the broken length of colored fang ran up his arm, through
him, banishing
Modic's influence. Out of the far
beginnings of his kind shot a thought that at first was a dim shadow, like a
fear in night time, to set him moving.
" Alsa ..." he
said to himself. Modic was being answered by another effort of the serpent creature. Its head launched out a second time across
the stream which divided them. The open
jaws hung poised above him, ready to seize. Rentam braced himself.
Though
the thing was near enough now that it could breathe upon him, there was no
breath ... but a faint odor he had smelled many time before, Lacseed oil such as filled any lamp.
The
jaws closed in as Rentam waited. His hand swung up. He thrust the butt end of the rod he had
found into that open hollow in the jaw. It settled there, fastened tightly, now a part of the dreadful set of fangs.
Then
.. . there was a flash of orange and green, followed by streams of light. The snakey head
rose high. It twisted. Something shaped like a door broken open in
its side. One of the weighty feet
snapped off.
The
scent of oil was throat thickening as the creature threw itself backward,
heaving and twisting violently. A
shudder and the fearsome head broke loose to fly through the air and smash
against one of the chairs of the dead. Bits of wire and small fragments of metal erupted out of the headless
body.
That
floundered forward into the stream. For
a moment or two the water boiled up about it in a mighty sweep of the
current. One of the great talons fl
airing outward caught upon the board of buttons which Modic had fingered. As the mutilated thing
dropped, it drew that with it. There followed a flash so bright that Rentam cupped his hands-over smarting eyes, able to see
nothing but the scarlet light. But he heard. This was no more wailing encouragement from the
Seeker, rather explosions or giant crashs such as
might come from the fall of a rock or of a great tree.
Another
odor filled the stagnant air. Rentam pressed the mask dizzily. What he smelled, what his
tongue tasted was oil burning, but with that other stenches he could not
name. He rubbed his eyes. The second lid there may have saved him from
total blindness for he could see, hazily, yet enough to witness what had
followed the destruction of the
toward the lip of the pool. Also ... his
feet no longer obeyed his will, instead they carried him forward.
Though
the Betweeners no longer owned any god or goddess,
they still believed in a force for good and one for evil. The Speakers had told of old days when
certain strong people, both male and female, reached such heights of control
that they could command even stones to move. Those were of yesteryear and few
believed their like might even have lived. Rather most Betweeners said inwardly that such
were but creatures of legends cast into words by early Speakers to give the clans
some fear of the unknown and thus limit their wandering.
" Essar , Roqued , Alsa ..." To
drown out Modic's call or summons without words Rentam roared full throatedly those names of great bravery and supreme command. He bent his mind toward the battle with raw
fear, worked for the control of his body. To that purpose he repeated the roll of Sacred Dead in a battle
song. The serpent thing was moving. It drew
back its head, tensed muscles, and then ... Like a journey staff used as a
lance, the head flashed toward Rentam . By the thickness of a bavard leaf only did it miss seizing upon him.
Modic shrilled that cry a second time. The sound got inside Rentam's head to cause a new kind of pain.
" Essar !" he
shouted back, or did he?
Was
it true that he was answered, or merely that the tone and pitch of his voice
cut through the sound spell Modic was weaving? Rentam might never
know. Anymore than he could tell why and
how the warmth in the broken length of colored fang ran up his arm, through
him, banishing
Modic's influence. Out of the far
beginnings of his kind shot a thought that at first was a dim shadow, like a
fear in night time, to set him moving.
" Alsa ..." he
said to himself. Modic was being answered by another effort of the serpent creature. Its head launched out a second time across
the stream which divided them. The open
jaws hung poised above him, ready to seize. Rentam braced himself.
Though
the thing was near enough now that it could breathe upon him, there was no
breath ... but a faint odor he had smelled many time before, Lacseed oil such as filled any lamp.
The
jaws closed in as Rentam waited. His hand swung up. He thrust the butt end of the rod he had
found into that open hollow in the jaw. It settled there, fastened tightly, now a part of the dreadful set of fangs.
Then
.. . there was a flash of orange and green, followed by streams of light. The snakey head
rose high. It twisted. Something shaped like a door broken open in
its side. One of the weighty feet
snapped off.
The
scent of oil was throat thickening as the creature threw itself backward,
heaving and twisting violently. A
shudder and the fearsome head broke loose to fly through the air and smash
against one of the chairs of the dead. Bits of wire and small fragments of metal erupted out of the headless
body.
That
floundered forward into the stream. For
a moment or two the water boiled up about it in a mighty sweep of the
current. One of the great talons fl
airing outward caught upon the board of buttons which Modic had fingered. As the mutilated thing
dropped, it drew that with it. There followed a flash so bright that Rentam cupped his hands-over smarting eyes, able to see
nothing but the scarlet light. But he heard. This was no more wailing encouragement from the
Seeker, rather explosions or giant crashs such as
might come from the fall of a rock or of a great tree.
Another
odor filled the stagnant air. Rentam pressed the mask dizzily. What he smelled, what his
tongue tasted was oil burning, but with that other stenches he could not
name. He rubbed his eyes. The second lid there may have saved him from
total blindness for he could see, hazily, yet enough to witness what had
followed the destruction of the
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