The Plains of Kallanash Read Online Free PDF

my wife,” Jonnor said tearfully. “My beloved wife. I’ll not leave her. I’ll stay here and watch over her. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”
    Mia put an arm round his shoulders, and he sat, hunched in misery, beside her. “I’ll wait with him,” Mia whispered. “But there’s no need for all of us to stay. You go and get some sleep, Hurst. You were so late back last night, you must be tired.”
    “I’ll keep you company if you wish.”
    She shook her head. “There’s no need. I can look after Jonnor.”
    It was true, he realised in sudden anguish. That was her role now, to take care of Jonnor, to be the wife he needed, even if he didn’t appreciate his good fortune. There was no place for Hurst in this new arrangement, and if he hovered round the two of them, it would only confuse things.
    Brushing the tips of his fingers gently across her arm, he crept away.
    ~~~
    With the first faint hint of dawn, Hurst returned. Jonnor had fallen into a restless sleep, but Mia stood, gazing towards the funeral tower.
    “How are you?” Hurst asked, placing a hand in the small of her back. “Have you had any rest at all?”
    She stood unmoving under his touch. “Do they come themselves? The Gods – do they come for the dead?”
    Strange question. What had been going through her mind while she stood vigil through the long, dark hours?
    “I don’t think so. I never heard of anything like that. The Gods are never seen, they never intervene, that’s why they have their Servants, and the Voices of the Servants and their Slaves, to carry out their wishes.”
    “That’s what I thought too. But…” She hesitated. “You’ll think me insane, I daresay.”
    “Try me.”
    “I saw… something. People. At the top of the tower, not long ago. Several of them, moving about.”
    “That would be the Companions, I expect. They… the Slaves give them poison, you know, so they don’t need to be awake for the flames, but they don’t have to take it.”
    “Five of them. I saw five.”
    “That’s… Mia, that’s not possible. There couldn’t be more than three, just the Companions. No one else is there.”
    “Could anyone get in?”
    “No, the doors are locked and the Silent Guards stand vigil around the outside of the tower. No one could get in. Besides, you can’t see anything for certain from here. In this half-light, it’s easy for the eyes to be tricked.”
    “I expect you’re right,” she said, her voice tired and dull.
    The sky was soon a blaze of angry reds and golds and washed out blues. The funeral tower stood out stark and clear, rising like a slender finger from the morning mist below. In the room at the top, the blue lamps were dim against the strength of the rising sun.
    The Companions returned one by one to the stone balcony, and then the Slaves, the acolytes lighting scented oil burners and positioning the great brass gong. The Karninghold Slave began to chant, but almost at once a bulky acolyte swung his hammer against the gong. The sound echoed through their heads and reverberated off the walls, making them all jump.
    Across the meadow, the upper floor of the funeral tower was engulfed by vivid blue flames, so that for an instant a brilliant pulsing globe sat atop a thin stone pillar.
    Then the blaze was gone, and Tella and her Companions with it.

     
    3: Mourning (Mia)
    An acolyte ignited the ornate brass brazier with a torch lit from the temple fire. Thick stone walls and high south-facing windows kept the temple’s side-chamber cool despite the summer warmth outside. A gong tolled, and Mia took her place on one of the cushions around the brazier. Jonnor, grey-faced, sat to one side of her with Hurst on the other, and she reached to clasp their hands. Just three of them, now, and a little further for their arms to stretch to circle the fire. Their first family communion since the funeral burning, and it didn’t even feel strange, since Tella had been away so often lately. It was almost normal, a