Shadow of the Otherverse (The Last Whisper of the Gods Saga Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

much the same: emaciated, desiccated, and far older than her actual age. Her scarred and pox-riddled appearance was more that of a corpse than a living, breathing wizard.
    “She be awake,” said Warburm from where he was watching from just outside the flap to the back of the wagon. The big man looked different in the boiled leather armor he had acquired somewhere along the way. He was no longer the obese, boisterous innkeeper who had raised Sorial from childhood to the cusp of being a man. Over the years, his hair had thinned out and gone gray. The trip to The Forbidden Lands had reduced his enormous girth and his few seasons in The Wayfarer’s Comfort since his return hadn’t been long enough for the fat to reassert itself. His appearance was more like that of the great adventurer he had once been than the popular man behind the bar who never ran dry of stories or watered-down ale.
    As if in response to Warburm’s voice, Ariel’s eyes fluttered open. Sorial had asked that her next dosing of the drug be delayed. He wanted to speak with her although he was uncertain whether there was anything she would, or could, tell him. The danger was that when her mind and memory became sharp enough for her to respond to his questions, she might then be able to use her magic. That couldn’t be permitted. Ferguson had argued vociferously against allowing Ariel to regain any semblance of consciousness but she was Sorial’s personal prisoner and his decisions regarding her were final, as was his responsibility for them.
    Ariel tried without success to focus her rheumy eyes. Sorial reached out and took one of her skeletal hands in his. The flesh was cold and clammy, skin on bone. It was amazing that she was still alive, but as aggressively as magic could eat away at the body, it helped life to cling to what little was left.
    “Getting daring, I see,” she said. The voice was as brittle as dry leaves being crushed underfoot. It was so faint that Sorial had to bend close to her mouth to hear her.
    “I’m guessing it’ll take a period of recovery before you’ll be able to start working magic.” Or at least that’s what he was hoping.
    “A long period. The way I feel now, I couldn’t even conjure a thin breeze. Even if I could concentrate, there’s no stamina left. This body’s finished. Has been for a long time but I didn’t want to admit it. Kill me and get it over with. It would be a kindness.”
    “You’ll be pleased to know that your Lord of Fire won his first battle. Vantok has fallen.” Warburm gave Sorial a sharp look when he told Ariel this but he saw no reason to keep the information from her.
    “Doesn’t much matter anymore, at least to me. I’m just a placeholder till the next Lord or Lady of Air can be found. I guess I’ve had a good run - everyone thought I died about twenty years ago.”
    “Would you be willing to talk about his long-term plans?”
    “There’s nothing I could tell you that you don’t already know. Justin didn’t let me in on his strategies. All he told me was that he intended to start his sweep across the continent with Vantok. From there, it’s pretty evident where his path will take him.”
    “A Winter war in the North?”
    Ariel managed a shrug; it was a brittle gesture. “He’s the Lord of Fire. He can keep his men warm enough that they won’t freeze to death. Climate isn’t a concern for him. Would have been even less if he still had me.”
    “Did he ever talk about the Otherverse?”
    “Every wizard talks about the Otherverse at one time or another. He mentioned it in passing. Some idle speculation about what it might be like to control the raw power rather than the filtered variant. Justin thinks it’s the filtering that causes the degeneration experienced by wizards - a control put in place by the gods to limit us.”
    “No plans about it?”
    “No. He might have them. Justin has an abundance of schemes and plots I wasn’t privy to, and he’s trusted me less