When True Night Falls Read Online Free PDF

escaped true death by a slender margin, and I do not know whether to give thanks or weep that the living world must still suffer his presence. For if power such as his could be bound to our purpose, our chance of success would be increased a thousandfold.
    Bind evil to serve a worthy cause , the Prophet wrote, and you will have altered its nature forever . I pray it will be so with him.
    Thus it is, your Holiness, that as soon as I seal this letter (and find a reliable messenger, no easy task in this city) I will be leaving for Faraday. If luck is with me I will find a ship and a crew in time to sail with the spring tides, before the storm season threatens. But only if I move quickly. Holiness, I beg for your blessing. For my enterprise, if not for myself. It pains me deeply that I cannot return to Jaggonath to ask this in person, to kneel before you in the tradition of my Order and renew my vows before departing, but time does not permit it. Who can say what new evil may be spawned in a year, by a creature who feeds on crippled souls? I know that you would approve of my mission and sanction my haste if you could. Thus I seal this letter, and append to it all the information I have gathered in recent months, sending it to Jaggonath in my stead. May it serve you well. God willing, I shall return triumphant to add to it.
    I remain, obediently,
    Your servant and His,
Damien Kilcannon Vryce,
R.C.U., K.G.F., C.E.A.

    A study in anger: speechlessly, restlessly, Jaggonath’s Holy Father paced once from his desk to the window, then back again. Barely glancing at Damien before he began the course anew. Body rigid with tension, ivory robes rippling sharply with the force of his stride, snapping like pennants in an angry wind.
    And then the dam burst. At last.
    “How dare you,” he hissed. His voice was not loud, but the rage that it communicated was deafening. “How dare you go off on your own, sending this in your stead ... as if I would accept it as a substitute!” He slapped the package that lay on his desk with accusatory vehemence. Damien’s letter. Damien’s notes. A pile nearly an inch thick, made up of all his records from the rakhlands. All his notes on the Hunter. “As if mere paper could excuse you from your duty! As if mere notes and pictures could serve as a substitute for proper procedure!”
    “Your Holiness.” Damien swallowed hard, biting back on his own growing anger. It was a struggle for him to keep his voice calm, to keep from exploding in indignation. Right or wrong, he deserved better treatment than this ... but he also knew that the fae which surrounded them was partly responsible for his response, that its currents had been altered by the Patriarch’s rage so that its power was abrading his temper to the breaking point. Not that knowing that makes it any easier to deal with , he thought grimly. If he gave in and responded in kind—or even worse, dared to work a Shielding in the Patriarch’s presence—it would be tantamount to vocational suicide. And so he forced his voice to be steady, low, even submissive. “I beg of you, consider—”
    “I have considered,” the Patriarch interrupted sharply. “For weeks now. Since your message first arrived. Every waking moment, I have considered ... and the situation looks worse each time.” He shook his head in mock amazement. “Did you really think I wouldn’t guess what you intended? Did you think I wouldn’t understand why you sent this?”
    “I felt there was a chance that I might not come back,” Damien said stiffly. “I thought you should have all the facts you would need to deal with the Hunter, in case he returned without me—”
    The blue eyes were fixed on him, their depths unforgiving. “That’s not the issue and you know it. The issue is your failure to return here. The issue is your summary dismissal of my authority. The issue is not whether you sent me a report, but the fact that you sent it in lieu of a personal audience. And I