The Shattered Goddess Read Online Free PDF Page B

more. He had exhausted his supply of tears that evening, and there was only a hollow ache within him.
    “Ginna.”
    He sat up with a start. The straw rustled. He peered breathlessly into the gloom. The world was absolutely still. Something had shut out all the sounds of the night
    “Ginna.”
    “Here I am.” His heartpounded with bewilderment, then terror, then joy when he recognized the voice, followed by terror again. It was impossible that he was hearing that voice now, in this place.
    “Ginna.”
    Tharanodeth stood in the doorway to the room. He had the carven staff in his hand and he wore a travelling cloak and his walking shoes. His face shone brightly, as if a lantern were held up to it, andyet there was no lantern.
    “Ginna, I am on the road now. It is a long way. Goodbye.”
    “Wait! Where are you going? Don’t go!”
    The light went out like a candle extinguished. The boy leapt up and stumbled out into the hallway which was filled only with the echoes of his shouting.
    It was very dark every way he looked, and when he fell silent the night was still.
    He walkedthe battlements until dawn in search of his friend, hoping for another glimpse, but he asked nothing of the few people he met. They couldn’t help him. He dared not tell them what he had seen.
    The new day found him in a wide, high hall. The sun touched the blue glass of the skylight, flooding the room with color. On opposite walls were hung portraits for the bright and dark aspects of TheGoddess. One, clothed in midnight, remained dark. The other, astride a dolphin, glowed with the brilliance of the sunrise.
    Remembering when he had first met her, he placed his hands together, then parted them, and a ball of light rose up for The Goddess to see.
    Suddenly trumpets sounded. Cymbals clashed. Many metal-shod feet tramped. Two huge doors swung wide in front of him, and suddenlythe room was filled with people. First came the trumpeters, then a squadron of soldiers in full armor, with richly decorated shields and banners trailing from their spears. Drummers drummed. A line of boys Ginna’s age rang bells and chanted. Countless courtiers, lords, and ladies followed, all in their richest attire. In the midst of them was a chair on a platform, held aloft by eight burlymen.
    Ginna was so bedazzled by this intrusion that he just stood there in the middle of the floor, gaping.
    “You there! Brat! Get out of here!” A captain in a scarlet cape and winged helmet came forward waving a sword.
    “No. Let him stay. Let him be the first to congratulate me.”
    Ginna looked up to see who had spoken. Everyone else looked up too. When that voice was raised,all others fell silent. He recognized the pudgy, pale figure on the platform, even though he had not seen him in years and certainly had never seen him like this, dressed in vestments which were black on one side and white on the other, and holding a golden staff in his hand.
    It was Kaemen. He was only a month older than Ginna, but now he was the new Guardian, the holiest person in the world.
    The great mass of people divided and flowed around Ginna like a stream around a boulder until the chair of Kaemen drew near him. Then the bearers set it down.
    “Come forward,” said The Guardian, his girlish voice cracking in an attempt to be deep and commanding.
    Ginna didn’t know what to do. Court etiquette was wholly strange to him. He had never spoken to a guardian in public before, or even with any noble lord.
    He fell on his knees, keeping his eyes to the floor.
    “You may kiss my hand,” said Kaemen. “Yes, Ginna, I know who you are. They say you are magical and were sent to bewitch me when I was a child. ”
    “Oh no! I wouldn’t—I could never do that— Dread Lord! ”
    “Of course you couldn’t. But you tried and you failed. Now it amuses me to see whatyou will do next”
    “Holy One! I would never do anything. I didn’t! Please forgive me!” Ginna desperately hoped he had said the right things.