The Traitor's Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

depart the threshold.
Arlmagnava had said herself that the Frostborn had no power to
leave the threshold without a gate, and by the time they figured
out how to make one, I would have rejoined the Keeper.
    Or she would have stopped the invasion. The impending
attack of the Frostborn seemed like something the Keeper ought to
know about.
    Ripples of magic blurred before my Sight, and I shot
a glance over my shoulder. Arlmagnava cast a spell, white mist and
blue fire blending before her, and thrust out her free hand.
Icicles formed in the mist, spikes the size of my leg, their points
razor sharp. I had no doubt that the Frostborn woman’s magic had
frozen them to the hardness of granite. The icy spikes hurtled
forward, and I threw myself to the ground. The razor spikes flew
past me and embedded themselves into the earth, so cold that I felt
them burning my face even from a distance.
    I scrambled to my feet, and my only warning was a
faint whisper of wind. One of the winged locusari fell from the sky
above my head, mandibles yawning wide. I could have blasted it from
the air with a gout of flame, but I did not dare spare the power
for it, not when I needed every scrap of magic I could gather for
the traveling spell.
    So I swung my staff like a club. Centuries of life
and magical power had not given me physical strength to match, and
even the winged locusar could have ripped me apart with ease.
Nevertheless, I had the momentum, my staff was heavy, and I
released a little power with the blow, enough for a burst of fire
to erupt from the wood. The blast knocked the locusar back, and it
struck the nearest tree and bounced off with a shriek.
    Then there was no more time.
    I heard the locusari drones racing through the trees,
and I felt the surge of power as Arlmagnava began another spell. I
couldn’t outrun them, I couldn’t kill all the locusari, and I
couldn’t defeat Arlmagnava at a battle of magic.
    I had to escape, now.
    I gripped my staff and slammed the end against the
earth. The staff trembled in my hands as I focused power, the
sigils blazing brighter. I heard the screams of the locusari, the
buzz of their wings, felt the stirring currents of magic as
Arlmagnava prepared to fling another spell at me.
    I closed my eyes and concentrated, working the spell.
I had to keep all my attention on the spell. The air around me grew
colder as the Frostborn worked her magic, and I heard the creaking
chitin of the charging locusari.
    I did not open my eyes.
    Either I would escape, or the locusari and Arlmagnava
would tear me apart.
    I flung out my arms and shouted, releasing the power
I had summoned, and everything went black.
    ***

Chapter 6: A Quest

    A long time later, I came back to myself.
    I felt rough earth beneath my cheek, prickly with
fallen pine needles. The air blew past me in a cool breeze, heavy
with the smell of pine trees. I felt the length of my staff against
my right hand, and after a moment I found the strength to lift my
head and sit up.
    I was exactly where I had fallen in the forest. Yet
there was no trace of Arlmagnava and her warrior drones. The
strange hazy translucency had vanished, as had the mist, and the
pine forest, the blue sky, and the snow-capped gray mountains were
sharp and clear around me.
    I was no longer in the threshold.
    I had reached the physical world of Andomhaim.
    A surge of exultation went through me, and I pulled
myself to my feet. After fifteen centuries of searching, I had
found the way to the Keeper’s world. Now all I had to do was to
find the Keeper herself. Of course, an entire world was a large
place to search, but compared to spending fifteen hundred years
seeking for a way to travel to a new world, it seemed a small task
by comparison.
    I would find her. I would warn her of the Frostborn
and beg her for forgiveness, to lift my curse at last.
    And then perhaps I would finally remember my name
before I died.
    Feeling more hope than I had in centuries, I set off
into the forest.

    THE