The Destroyer of Worlds Read Online Free PDF

forward and stopped, staring at the house. Ally lowered the binoculars, her heart hammering in her chest, sweat beading on her forehead. “Why is it here?”
    “Looking for us, I’d imagine,” said Conmager. “I’m not surprised.” He lifted his cane and muttered something under his breath. “Marugon has imbued it with a spell of seeking. He’s probably done the same for all the changelings. No doubt hundreds of them seek us, driven on by the black magic.”
    “Hundreds?” said Ally. “My God. We’ve got to run before the rest of them find us.”
    “There’s no need to fear, not yet,” said Arran, voice low. His dark eyes glinted with the moonlight reflecting off the snow. “We can kill this one, if it comes for us, and have plenty of time to escape.”
    Conmager snorted. “There may be no need to flee. The wards may turn it back, destroy any memory that it ever found this place.” 
    “Then let us hope they work,” said Arran.
    They sat in silence for a long moment, Ally’s heart thundering like a drum. Even without the night-vision binoculars, she saw the changeling across the moon-lit snow, a dark blotch beneath a barren tree. She could almost feel its red eyes on the house, staring into her. 
    “This is my fault,” muttered Allard. “My fault. I handed out the cigarettes, I let them…”
    “Shut up,” said Conmager. He tensed, propped his pistol against the back of the couch, and took aim. “It’s not working. Sir Arran. Can you manage a shot through the head at this distance?” 
    “I should,” said Arran, closing one eye and sighting down his Glock’s barrel, “unless there is a branch or some other obstruction that I cannot see.” 
    “All five of us should shoot,” said Allard, “one of us is bound to hit the poor bastard.” 
    “Very well,” said Conmager. His hands tensed around his gun. “On the count of three.” Ally braced herself for the gunshots. “One, two…”
    “Wait.” Arran lowered his pistol. “It’s moving.”
    “No.” Conmager grinned. “It’s leaving.”
    Ally watched as the changeling staggered away. It moved with a drunken, looping walk, its head lolling back and forth. It vanished down the snowy driveway and did not return.
    “It worked.” Conmager slid his gun back into its holster. “The wards turned it back. It will regain its senses in a few hours. By then it will have wandered miles away. And it will have no memory of this place.” He shrugged into his coat and picked up his cane. “I’ll go back on watch.” He disappeared out the front door. 
    “God. That scared me half to death.” Mary stood and handed her gun to Allard. “I’m going to go cook something.”
    Allard snickered. “That’s what you always do when something bad happens. You go and cook something.”
    Mary snorted. “You have a problem with that?”
    Allard grinned. “It keeps me fed, doesn’t it?” They moved towards the kitchen, still talking. Lithon hurried after them. 
    Ally slipped away from them. “I’m going back to bed.” 
    “Wait.” Arran moved towards her, a dark shadow in the dim room. “You have not eaten all day. Mary told me. You should eat something before you go to bed.” 
    Ally scowled. “I’m not hungry.”
    Arran stepped closer. “You must keep up your strength. We need you.” 
    Ally shook her head. “No, you don’t. Alastarius’s Prophecy was about Lithon, remember? He’s the one that’s supposed to overthrow Marugon.”
    “But the Prophecy said Lithon would bring Alastarius back…”
    “And he has, hasn’t he?” said Ally, thinking of Alastarius’s shade. “And he’s still the one who will overthrow Marugon, Alastarius or no Alastarius. It’s…it’s…” She stared at Arran, and suddenly she had one of her premonitions, her insights. Of course, those premonitions must have come from the white magic locked inside her skull. “Conmager needs Lithon, not me. But you need me.” 
    Arran blinked. “I do not