Read Online The Legend of Asahiel: Book 02 - The Obsidian Key by Eldon Thompson - Free Book Online Page A

head, Darinor went on with the frustrated sigh of someone instructing a dullard. “The order was in its infancy at that time, its focus narrowed, its attention drawn by man’s own wars. They had neither the inclination nor the resources to expend recording the trials and history of faraway lands. It was therefore left to the hunter to capture these events, if any record was to be made.”
    “And how did Algorath learn of this?” Torin asked, brushing this last bit aside as he realized why the explanation didn’t work. “Or did he just take for granted their response?”
    Darinor leaned forward, a haunting black shadow. “He learned it from the hunter’s own lips, before making sure that the other failed in his endeavor.”
    Torin swallowed thickly.
    “The Entients were left to assume that both had perished in this Finlorian war of which they kept no record. Most likely, it was not until their descendants began colonizing these lands, more than two thousand years later, that they began digging into its past—too late to have any recollection of what had actually occurred. For by that time, the only surviving history was that which had been altered by the Vandari. Clearly, their support of your quest indicates an effort to uncover at least part of this missing truth—as blind as any to the consequences.”
    Though sitting forward, Torin felt as if he were sinking into his chair. His mind was a maelstrom, thoughts and emotions swirling ever faster in a sucking spiral that threatened to pull him under. Questions gathered at its edge like mosquito swarms on the shore of a lake.
    “If everyone forgot, then how do you know all of this?”
    Darinor relaxed, if only slightly, from the aggressiveness of his stance. “Have you not already guessed? After the war, the remnants of Sabaoth’s shattered Sword were buried by the Vandari in a sacred shrine. Except for one small piece, a heartstone from the ruined hilt, seated in a clasp and fastened to a silver chain. It was presented to Algorath as a token of appreciation. But more than that, it was a tool with which to monitor the integrity of the Illysp seal. An enchantment woven upon its links connected Pendant and seal, so that if the magic of the seal were to fail, that failure would resonate with the bearer of the Pendant.”
    Darinor’s expression softened predictably as once again he turned his focus to Marisha.
    “Like the Finlorians, so too did Algorath abandon the shores of Tritos, departing for a secluded island far to the southeast. As the seventh great-grandson of the renegade Entient, I came eventually to serve as guardian of the Pendant and gatekeeper of the Illysp seal. I refused the charge at first, rebelling against my father and all that he expected of me. I left his island to journey far and wide, eventually settling upon these shores, where I met your mother.” He paused with open mouth, looking as if he were about to say more, before shaking his head.
    “When later I accepted my calling, your mother refused to accompany me or permit me to stay. As a pure mortal, she felt it best to say our farewells then and there, before suffering the indignity of growing old long before I.”
    Indeed, that would explain the man’s unchanged appearance, Torin thought. A life measured in centuries, rather than decades—whether by mystical or divine embrace. He glanced at Marisha with fresh wonderment and a twinge of fear.
    “She understood, however, that you, my daughter, might one day come to question the unique nature of your own existence, and that I would be the one to best explain it to you. She permitted me, therefore, to leave the Pendant with you, knowing little more than what I had shared with you, that it was a sacred talisman that would protect you as long as you protected it.”
    He reached into the tatters of his robes and, from a hidden pouch, pulled forth a small length of silver chain. “Only she and I knew of this, the token I kept, links from the