Read Online The Spell Sword by Marion Z. Bradley - Free Book Online

level again. He said,
"Close your eyes."
    Childishly, she screwed them up tight.
    "Hold out your hands." Damon laid one of the ornaments in each small pink palm.
    "Now, if you cannot tell me which is your own, you are no child of the Alton
Domain."
    "I was tested for laran as a child," Ellemir protested, "and told I had none,
compared with Callista-"
    "Never compare yourself with anyone," Damon said, with a sudden rough thrust of
anger. "Concentrate, Ellemir."
    She said, with a queer strange note of surprise in her voice, "This is mine-I am
sure."
    "Look and see."
    She opened her blue eyes, and gazed in astonishment at the gilt butterfly clasp
in her hand. "Why, it is! The other one felt strange, this one- How did I do
that?"
    Damon shrugged. "This one-yours-has the impress of your personality, your
vibrations, on it," he said. "It would have been simpler still if you and
Callista were not twins, for twins share much in vibration. That was why I
wanted to be quite, quite sure you had never worn hers, since it is difficult
enough to tell twin from twin by their telepathic imprint alone. Of course,
since Callista is a Keeper, her imprint is more definite." He broke off, feeling
a sudden surge of anger. Ellemir had always lived in her twin's shadow. And she
was too good, too gentle and good, to resent it. Why should she be so humble?
    Forcibly, he calmed the irrational surge of rage. He said quietly, "I think you
have more laran than you realize, although it is true that, in twins, one seems
always to get more than her fair share of the Gift, and the other rather less.
    This is why the best Keepers are often one of a twin-pair, since she has her own
and a part of her sister's share of the psi potentials."
    He cupped the starstone between his hands; it winked back at him, blue and
enigmatic, little ribbons of fire crawling in its depth. Fires to burn his soul
to ashes. Damon clamped his teeth against the cold nausea of his dread. "You'll
have to help," he said roughly.
    "But how? I know nothing of this."
    "Haven't you ever kept watch for Callista when she went out?"
    Ellemir shook her head. "She never said anything to me of her training or her
work. She said it was difficult and she would rather forget it when she was
here."
    "A pity," Damon said. He settled himself comfortably in his chair. He said,
"Very well, I'll have to teach you now. It would be easier if you were
experienced in this, but you have enough to do what you must. It is simple.
    Here. Lay your hands against my wrists, so that I can still see the starstone,
but-yes, there, at the pulse spots. Now-" He reached out, tentatively, trying to
make a light telepathic contact. She flinched physically, and he smiled. "Yes,
that's right, you can perceive the contact. Now all you must do is to keep watch
over my body while I am out of it hunting for Callista. When I first go out, I
will feel cold to your touch, and my heart and pulse will slow slightly. That is
normal; don't be afraid. But if we are interrupted, don't let anyone touch me.
    Above all, don't let anyone move me. If my pulse begins to quicken and race, or
if the veins at my temples swell, or my body begins to grow either deathly cold
or very warm, then you must wake me."
    "How do I do that?"
    "Call my name, and put your whole force behind it," Damon said. "You don't have
to speak aloud, just project your thoughts at me, calling my name. If you cannot
wake me, and it gets worse-for instance, if I show any difficulty in
breathing-wake me at once; don't delay any further. At the last, but only if you
cannot wake me any other way, touch the stone." He winced as he said it. "Only
as a last desperate expedient, though; it is painful and might throw me into
shock." He felt her hands tremble as they gripped his wrists, and felt her fear
and hesitation like a faint fog obscuring the clarity of his own thought.
    Poor child. I shouldn't have to do this to her. Damn the luck. If Callista had
to get herself into trouble-He