Journey into the Void Read Online Free PDF Page B

he reached the meeting place. In the meantime, he had the two pecwae, and Bashae had the Sovereign Stone in the knapsack. Ulaf meant to keep hold of all three.
    Ulaf would have been glad to rid himself of the Trevinici warrior, who had suddenly arrived on the scene.
    â€œWhat a strange coincidence,” Ulaf muttered, “that in a city that never sees a Trevinici or a pecwae, they should both suddenly bump into one another.”
    And then he remembered Shadamehr saying once that, “There are no such things as coincidences, only the gods’ practical jokes.”
    So if this was a joke, who was getting the last laugh? Bashae and the Grandmother came from a land far from New Vinnengael, a land where the sight of a Trevinici—the pecwaes’ ancient protectors—was as common as a sparrow. They could not know that seeing a Trevinici in New Vinnengael was tantamount to seeing a whale floating in one of the city fountains. Ulaf supposed that Jessan was the first Trevinici to have set foot in New Vinnengael in the past twenty years—if not longer. For there nowto be two Trevinici in New Vinnengael stretched credibility to the utmost limits.
    And for that Trevinici to have “stumbled” upon the two pecwae…
    Ulaf had been warned that Vrykyl were in pursuit of the pecwae—or rather, the Vrykyl were in pursuit of the Sovereign Stone carried by the one pecwae, Bashae. Ulaf was unfortunately all too familiar with the Vrykyl. He’d encountered them before, much to his regret. They could take the form of any person they had killed, and he guessed that the strange Trevinici, walking down the street alongside him, was one of the powerful and terrifying Vrykyl. Ulaf had no way of knowing for certain, short of forcing the Vrykyl to reveal himself, and he had no intention of doing that. If this Trevinici was a Vrykyl, then they were in extreme danger.
    â€œOn the other hand,” Ulaf argued with himself, “if this Trevinici is a Vrykyl, why didn’t he use his Void magic to turn me into a pile of greasy ash and take the pecwae and run? Why is he coming along tamely?
    â€œThe obvious answer,” Ulaf replied to himself, “is that the Vrykyl is under orders to keep himself and his magic hidden.”
    This surmise was not much comfort, for it opened up another box of terrible suppositions and surmises, the main one being that there were more Vrykyl working on behalf of their master, the Lord of the Void, Dagnarus, whose armies were even now marching down on New Vinnengael from the north.
    Ulaf decided that his wisest course was to take everyone—pecwae, Trevinici, Vrykyl, and all—to the tavern, where he hoped he would find Baron Shadamehr and the rest of the Baron’s people. Together they could figure some way to deal with this deadly situation.
    The Tubby Tabby was located at the end of a block on Chandler’s Street. As they turned into the street, the raucous laughter could be heard a block away. The sign featuring a painting of the famous slumbering orange tabby swayed and creaked in the evening breeze.
    The heat and noise from inside the tavern burst on Ulaf with the force of a dwarven fire spell as he yanked open the heavy wooden door. On the lower floor was the tavern proper and two large common rooms, where travelers could find a pallet for the night. An enormous fireplace at one end of the tavern provided light and warmth. Seeing a number of his friends and comrades among the crowd, Ulaf breathed a sigh of relief.Ulaf took firm hold of the pecwae, who stood frozen like terrified rabbits on the door stoop, and shoved them inside. The Trevinici hesitated in the doorway, and Ulaf hoped that he might be intimidated by the crowd and decide to depart. The warrior scowled darkly at the sight of so many people, but he followed the two pecwae inside and hung on to them like grim death.
    An unfortunately apt analogy, Ulaf thought to himself.
    He scanned the crowd