Read Online Wards of Faerie: The Dark Legacy of Shannara by Terry Brooks - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Terry Brooks
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Elfstones,” Seersha declared. “If there is a chance they might be recovered, we have to take it.”
“We are the caretakers of magic in this world, are we not?” Carrick leaned forward across the table toward Pleysia. “As such, we have a responsibility to find, retrieve, and safeguard any magic that might impact the people we serve. They may not appreciate our efforts, but that has never been the measuring stick of our commitment as Druids. I think we have here the sort of challenge we cannot refuse to accept. I think we have been given a responsibility of proportions impossible to measure. Finding the missing Elfstones might initiate changes that would dictate an entirely new future for the Four Lands. To pretend otherwise is foolish.”
“Yes, think what it would mean if we found them,” Seersha added quickly “Power of the sort that five sets of Elfstones would bestow could offer solutions to so many problems. I am not yet ready to toss aside magic in favor of new science. All I have seen so far from what’s been recovered are killing machines and weapons. I’ve seen the chronicles compiled on the new forms of destruction introduced during the war on the Prekkendorran. I’ve seen the Races grow increasingly hostile toward one another, all of them ready to do battle at the first challenge thrown.”
“That might well have come about even without the advent of the new science,” Pleysia pointed out. “It might have come about in the presence of magic alone. You are conjecturing.”
“But what if the missing Elfstones are out there waiting to be found, and we have a chance to do so,” Carrick pressed. “Why not try?”
Pleysia gave him a look. “Because that is how people get killed, Carrick—by trying foolish things and taking needless risks. Druids are not exempt from such fates.” She paused. “Or so our histories tell us.”
There was an uneasy silence as the three glared at one anotheracross the table. Aphenglow thought she should say something, but she was at a loss as to what that might be. The lines were drawn, and everyone knew what she wanted just by the fact of her having returned with the diary in hand. But in truth she wondered if Pleysia might not be right about the slimness of their chances of finding the Elfstones after so long.
Carrick walked back to the head of the table and sat down again, his fingers steepled in front of his face. “We must wake the Ard Rhys.”
The others stared at him. “We are not to wake her unless an emergency requires her presence,” Pleysia reminded him. “Where is the emergency here?”
“You might argue that there isn’t one, and I might be inclined to agree with you under other circumstances. But the twin attacks on Aphenglow indicate a clear determination on the part of someone to find out what she knows.” Carrick leaned back. “I think that makes this an emergency.”
“Well said, Carrick!” a familiar voice boomed out from behind them. “We must wake the Ard Rhys at once!”
All heads turned. The four Druids already in the room had been so deeply involved in their discussion that they had failed either to hear or see the entry doors open to admit the fifth. Bombax stood in the opening, Garroneck looming just behind him.
“I’ve been standing outside the door for some time, listening. I didn’t want to interrupt Aphenglow’s report.” He grinned broadly—that devastating smile that left her undone every time she saw it. “But now I think I must. Aphenglow might not want to say so openly, but I expect she brought the diary back with every intention of seeing the Ard Rhys awakened. Because a decision on a matter of this sort requires that she be consulted and directly involved. Am I wrong, Elfling?”
Aphenglow hated it when he called her that, but she could not seem to stop him from doing so, even after expressing her dismay to him in private countless times. “You are not wrong. I did think it necessary.”
“Well, there
“We are the caretakers of magic in this world, are we not?” Carrick leaned forward across the table toward Pleysia. “As such, we have a responsibility to find, retrieve, and safeguard any magic that might impact the people we serve. They may not appreciate our efforts, but that has never been the measuring stick of our commitment as Druids. I think we have here the sort of challenge we cannot refuse to accept. I think we have been given a responsibility of proportions impossible to measure. Finding the missing Elfstones might initiate changes that would dictate an entirely new future for the Four Lands. To pretend otherwise is foolish.”
“Yes, think what it would mean if we found them,” Seersha added quickly “Power of the sort that five sets of Elfstones would bestow could offer solutions to so many problems. I am not yet ready to toss aside magic in favor of new science. All I have seen so far from what’s been recovered are killing machines and weapons. I’ve seen the chronicles compiled on the new forms of destruction introduced during the war on the Prekkendorran. I’ve seen the Races grow increasingly hostile toward one another, all of them ready to do battle at the first challenge thrown.”
“That might well have come about even without the advent of the new science,” Pleysia pointed out. “It might have come about in the presence of magic alone. You are conjecturing.”
“But what if the missing Elfstones are out there waiting to be found, and we have a chance to do so,” Carrick pressed. “Why not try?”
Pleysia gave him a look. “Because that is how people get killed, Carrick—by trying foolish things and taking needless risks. Druids are not exempt from such fates.” She paused. “Or so our histories tell us.”
There was an uneasy silence as the three glared at one anotheracross the table. Aphenglow thought she should say something, but she was at a loss as to what that might be. The lines were drawn, and everyone knew what she wanted just by the fact of her having returned with the diary in hand. But in truth she wondered if Pleysia might not be right about the slimness of their chances of finding the Elfstones after so long.
Carrick walked back to the head of the table and sat down again, his fingers steepled in front of his face. “We must wake the Ard Rhys.”
The others stared at him. “We are not to wake her unless an emergency requires her presence,” Pleysia reminded him. “Where is the emergency here?”
“You might argue that there isn’t one, and I might be inclined to agree with you under other circumstances. But the twin attacks on Aphenglow indicate a clear determination on the part of someone to find out what she knows.” Carrick leaned back. “I think that makes this an emergency.”
“Well said, Carrick!” a familiar voice boomed out from behind them. “We must wake the Ard Rhys at once!”
All heads turned. The four Druids already in the room had been so deeply involved in their discussion that they had failed either to hear or see the entry doors open to admit the fifth. Bombax stood in the opening, Garroneck looming just behind him.
“I’ve been standing outside the door for some time, listening. I didn’t want to interrupt Aphenglow’s report.” He grinned broadly—that devastating smile that left her undone every time she saw it. “But now I think I must. Aphenglow might not want to say so openly, but I expect she brought the diary back with every intention of seeing the Ard Rhys awakened. Because a decision on a matter of this sort requires that she be consulted and directly involved. Am I wrong, Elfling?”
Aphenglow hated it when he called her that, but she could not seem to stop him from doing so, even after expressing her dismay to him in private countless times. “You are not wrong. I did think it necessary.”
“Well, there
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