The Realms of the Gods Read Online Free PDF Page A

about under their own power. “Tell me—how did we come here? The last thing I remember is the Skinners.”
    Weiryn and Sarra traded glances. “You were in danger of your life, against a foe you could not fight,” the god said. “We had meant to bring you only, but this— man —” he glared at the mage— “refused to let go of you. We were forced to bring him as well.”
    â€œI just thank the Goddess that you met the Skinners on one of the great holidays, when we could pull you through to us,” added Daine’s mother. “Otherwise you would have been killed. It fair troubles me that no one we’ve asked has ever heard of those creatures.”
    Light bloomed through the curtains on a window that filled one of the walls, growing steadily brighter, then fading. Just as it was nearly gone, another slow flash came. “Oh, dear,” remarked Sarra as Weiryn opened the drapes. “They’re still at it.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Numair asked, lurching to his feet.
    â€œWill you sit?” cried Daine’s mother. “Men! You’re so stubborn!” Numair quickly sat, this time on the bed. Sulkily, the chair that Sarra had made for him sank into the wall.
    Daine stared at the view. The ground here dropped away to meet a busy stream. There were no trees between stream and house, although the forest grew thickly on the far side of the water. In the oval of open sky overhead, waves of rippling pea green, orange, yellow, and gray fire shimmered and coursed.
    â€œWhat is it?” she whispered. Numair took her hand and squeezed it gently. “I feel that it means something bad, but it’s so beautiful . . .”
    â€œIt means that Uusoae, the Queen of Chaos, is fighting the Great Gods,” said the badger. That light is her magic and her soldiers, as they attack the barriers between our realm and hers.”
    â€œShe has been at it since Midwinter.” Weiryn put an arm around Sarra. “Normally the lights that burn in our sky reflect your mortal wars, but this is far more important.”
    â€œThanks ever so,” muttered Numair. Daine grinned at him.
    Sarra looked at her daughter and said reproachfully, “Speaking of war, I never raised you to be always fighting and killing. That’s not woman’s work.”
    â€œIt’s needful, Ma. You taught me a woman has to know how to defend herself.”
    â€œI never!” gasped Sarra, indignant.
    â€œYou taught me when you were murdered in your own house,” Daine said quietly.
    Sarra turned back into Weiryn’s hold, leaning on his chest, but not before the girl saw tears in her mother’s eyes. A hand patted her ankle; a broad head thrust itself under her elbow. Against her mother’s hurt, she set Numair’s smile and the badger’s approval.
    â€œSarra, our war in Tortall may seem unimportant to the gods, but not to us,” Numair said. “Daine and I must return to it. They need every fighter, and every mage.”
    Daine nodded, and closed her eyes. She felt dizzy. Her bones were aching again.
    Sarra glanced over and saw what was wrong. “We’ll talk of that later,” she said crisply. “You both need to drink a posset, then sleep again. It will be a few days before the effects of your passage are over.” She went to the hearth and ladled something from a pot into a pair of cups. One she gave to Numair, the other to Daine. “Drink.”
    The liquid in the cup smelled vile, but Daine knew better than to argue. She gulped it down when Numair did, praying that her stomach wouldn’t reject it.
    â€œBack to bed, sir mage,” ordered Sarra.
    â€œGood night, Daine,” Numair said. The badger echoed him.
    â€œG’night,” she murmured, eyes closing already. She sank back among pillows that smelled of sun-dried cotton. “Oh—I forgot. G’night—Da.”
    She