Before The Mask Read Online Free PDF Page B

gorge below. A hundred lights floated on its surface, until the cloud swirled and
     eddied and glittered like quicksilver.
    “Let the mountains know,” the mage began. "Let all assembled herethe garrisoned captains
     of East Borders and those of Castle Nidusswear on their swords that they see what they
     see, and let them honor the change and surety of blood between these houses.
    "Let the traded sons, Aglaca of East Borders and Abelaard of Nidus, find shelter and
     board, honor and comfort in their opposite homes.
    "Let alliance rise from the commingling of houses.
    "And if ill befall one lad, let the same ill befall the other.
    “It is an oath secured by rock and air, by the bridge across the gap of the world.”
    Daeghrefn shifted in the saddle. These terms, at least, were the way he reckoned them.
    Then the mage began the chant that would seal the bargain, would exchange one lad for the
     other in unsteady alliance.
    “Son to son and truce to truth, Peace for blood and youth for youth, In high passages of
     stone The heart returns to claim its own.”
    The Solamnic boy moved forward to exchange places with Abelaard. For a moment, he wavered
     in
    his balance and looked down, light hair and light robe caught in a sudden gust of wind.
     The black cloud Cerestes had summoned rose now beneath the bridge, and tendrils of vapor
     wrapped about the boy's ankles, threatening to pull him down into the abyss.
    He is frozen up there, Verminaard thought. Perhaps he won't do it.
    Then the boy gathered himself and continued, urged on by his father. Cerestes spoke the
     second verse as the lads joined hands over the swirling mist.
    “Let the words pass overhead, Heard by the memorious dead, Confirming what hearts have
     begun, Truce for truth and son for son.”
    Verminaard shuddered as the power of the words coursed over him, binding him as they did
     his father, his brother, and the pale Solamnics. This Aglaca was his brother now, his
     blood by oath until the Nerakans were subdued.
    He was sure he would not like the boy.
    Suddenly Verminaard felt dizzy. His sight flickered, failed him, and he weaved on his
     wobbly legs. In front of him, the bridge seemed to vanish, and with it the ceremonythe
     boys and the black- robed celebrant.
    All Verminaard could see was darkness and a wavering point of light at the furthermost
     edge of the gloom. Slowly the light expanded, and he saw a blond youth on a dark,
    windy battlement, a lithe, blue-eyed, older image of himself.
    Not me, he thought. A twin ... my mirror image.
    Not Abelaard, but still my brother.
    The young man in the vision gestured toward him. His lips moved desperately in a soundless
     incantation, and Verminaard felt weaker, felt power drain from him....
    And then the vision ended in cold sunset and the high, thin air of the mountains. Cerestes
     lifted his hands from the lads at the center of the bridge, and black lightning danced
     across his arms.
    What has happened? Verminaard asked himself, his thoughts a confusing swirl. Desperately
     he sought the Voiceits advice, its melodious assurances.
    Only silence.
    Shaken, Verminaard looked about. All eyes were trained on the arch of the bridge. He
     breathed another prayer to any listening god and turned back toward Cerestes.
    From that point on, the ceremony was a ritual of its own silence. The boys turned, faced
     each other, and removed the ornamental tabards that covered their tunics. Solemnly they
     exchanged the thin garments, Aglaca wobbling again for a brief, nightmarish moment. Then
     slowly, almost reverently, each lad undertook to put on the other's tabard.
    Verminaard smiled a bit then. Abelaard was at least four years older than the Solamnic boy
     and hardened by the hunt and the mountain climates. Aglaca's tabard was much too small for
     him, so
    after a brief, halfhearted attempt, he draped the garment over his shoulder and began to
     walk toward the Solamnic column on the western side