[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Aber's, and every word rang true. Sometimes, I'd found, just being alive was
enough to make an enemy. I may have found my family... but I'd also gotten
more than my share of trouble along with them.
"Before we can proceed," Dworkin went on, "I must check something.
It will only take a moment...."
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He crossed to a table cluttered with wires and tubes and beakers,
crystals and glass spheres and copper pots the cast-off paraphernalia of a
wizard or alchemist, as far as I could tell. He rummaged among the bits and
pieces, tossing first one then another aside, muttering to himself.
"How long have these feuds been going on in the Courts of Chaos?"
I asked.
"Longer than anyone can remember. The Courts areancient."
"How old is that?" King Elnar's family had ruled in Ilerium for
nearly a thousand years,
"Every family in the Courts can trace their lineage back through
the generations," he said, "to the man who first recognized the Logrus for
what it was. His name is lost to us, but it is known that he created if from
his own blood and magics that came to him in a vision. He built it, and then
he went through it. Once he completed the journey, when he discovered he had
the power to move through Shadows, he forged an empire that still stands.
Every one of his children went through the Logrus as they came of age, and
they in turn gained the ability to walk among Shadows, becoming the first
Lords of Chaos and begetting all the noble houses and the great families that
still hold power in the Courts. Thus has it come down through the generations
to us, to you and me and all the rest of our family.
"How many generations?" I asked. "How many years?"
"It could be ten thousand. It could be more. Who can say? Time has
little meaning for those who travel in Shadows..."
It seemed inconceivably ancient to me. A ten-thousand-year-old
blood feud...
"How many of these great families are there, anyway?" I asked.
"And how many Lords of Chaos?"
"There are hundreds of houses, though many are minor, like our
own. The Lords of Chaos must number in the thousands. King Uthor himself keeps
the Book of Peerage, where all the bloodlines are detailed, from the greatest
house to least. Should any of us survive the coming war, we should annotate
it. I... did not provide anyone in the Courts with the details of my children
born in Shadow."
That piqued my interest. "What of me? Did you tell them of me?"
"No."
"And yet they found me anyway. How is that possible ?"
"Yes, theydid find you." He paused, frowning. "An interesting
question. Youshould have been safe in Ilerium. Nobody in the Courts knew of
you."
According to Aber, Dworkin had spoken often of me to Locke and
Freda and the other members of our family. That's how I'd been found. I knew
without a doubt that we had a traitor in our midst someone who had given away
my name and location.
But who? Locke? Freda? Aber? One of the others? I swallowed,
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
picturing them one by one. I couldn't see Blaise or Pella betraying me,
somehow. Davin, perhaps?
Still searching, Dworkin continued, "There is a science behind the
Logrus. A reason it works. It creates a kind of mental shortcut, a way to hold
its image in your mind without trying. That is the key to moving through
Shadows."
"Are there other ways? I thought the Trumps "
"Yes, there are other ways through Shadow, and there are...
legends, I supposed you would call them... of at least one other device which
had similar properties, though it was lost or destroyed generations ago. The
Logrus is all we have. I do not yet know why, but it makes some of us better
able to manipulate Shadows than others."
"And you're one of the best, I suppose."
"Me?" He chuckled. "Perhaps it seems that way to you, but in
truth, compared to some of the great Lords of Chaos, I am still but a clumsy
child."
I shrugged. Clearly he underestimated his own abilities. Our
journey in his horseless carriage, in which he had laid a series of traps for
anyone following, had impressed Freda greatly, and I didn't think that was an
easy accomplishment.
"You said I'd need to get ready for the Logrus. How? Is there some
training I need? A new skill?"
"You need strength and stamina and determination," Dworkin said.
"When I went into the Logrus nearly two hundred years ago, it almost killed
me. I lay feverish and near death for two weeks, and weird visions filled my
mind. I dreamed of a new kind of Logrus, one with a different kind of pattern,
and finding it has become one of the goals of all my work and research." He
gestured grandly, taking in this room and the ones beyond, "In fact, the more
I think about our enemies, the more I think this new pattern may be the
cause."
"How? Did you actually create it?"
"No... but I spoke openly of it when I was young, and I know it
brought me undue scrutiny. After all, if I had created a new Logrus... a new [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
Aber's, and every word rang true. Sometimes, I'd found, just being alive was
enough to make an enemy. I may have found my family... but I'd also gotten
more than my share of trouble along with them.
"Before we can proceed," Dworkin went on, "I must check something.
It will only take a moment...."
Page 71
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He crossed to a table cluttered with wires and tubes and beakers,
crystals and glass spheres and copper pots the cast-off paraphernalia of a
wizard or alchemist, as far as I could tell. He rummaged among the bits and
pieces, tossing first one then another aside, muttering to himself.
"How long have these feuds been going on in the Courts of Chaos?"
I asked.
"Longer than anyone can remember. The Courts areancient."
"How old is that?" King Elnar's family had ruled in Ilerium for
nearly a thousand years,
"Every family in the Courts can trace their lineage back through
the generations," he said, "to the man who first recognized the Logrus for
what it was. His name is lost to us, but it is known that he created if from
his own blood and magics that came to him in a vision. He built it, and then
he went through it. Once he completed the journey, when he discovered he had
the power to move through Shadows, he forged an empire that still stands.
Every one of his children went through the Logrus as they came of age, and
they in turn gained the ability to walk among Shadows, becoming the first
Lords of Chaos and begetting all the noble houses and the great families that
still hold power in the Courts. Thus has it come down through the generations
to us, to you and me and all the rest of our family.
"How many generations?" I asked. "How many years?"
"It could be ten thousand. It could be more. Who can say? Time has
little meaning for those who travel in Shadows..."
It seemed inconceivably ancient to me. A ten-thousand-year-old
blood feud...
"How many of these great families are there, anyway?" I asked.
"And how many Lords of Chaos?"
"There are hundreds of houses, though many are minor, like our
own. The Lords of Chaos must number in the thousands. King Uthor himself keeps
the Book of Peerage, where all the bloodlines are detailed, from the greatest
house to least. Should any of us survive the coming war, we should annotate
it. I... did not provide anyone in the Courts with the details of my children
born in Shadow."
That piqued my interest. "What of me? Did you tell them of me?"
"No."
"And yet they found me anyway. How is that possible ?"
"Yes, theydid find you." He paused, frowning. "An interesting
question. Youshould have been safe in Ilerium. Nobody in the Courts knew of
you."
According to Aber, Dworkin had spoken often of me to Locke and
Freda and the other members of our family. That's how I'd been found. I knew
without a doubt that we had a traitor in our midst someone who had given away
my name and location.
But who? Locke? Freda? Aber? One of the others? I swallowed,
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
picturing them one by one. I couldn't see Blaise or Pella betraying me,
somehow. Davin, perhaps?
Still searching, Dworkin continued, "There is a science behind the
Logrus. A reason it works. It creates a kind of mental shortcut, a way to hold
its image in your mind without trying. That is the key to moving through
Shadows."
"Are there other ways? I thought the Trumps "
"Yes, there are other ways through Shadow, and there are...
legends, I supposed you would call them... of at least one other device which
had similar properties, though it was lost or destroyed generations ago. The
Logrus is all we have. I do not yet know why, but it makes some of us better
able to manipulate Shadows than others."
"And you're one of the best, I suppose."
"Me?" He chuckled. "Perhaps it seems that way to you, but in
truth, compared to some of the great Lords of Chaos, I am still but a clumsy
child."
I shrugged. Clearly he underestimated his own abilities. Our
journey in his horseless carriage, in which he had laid a series of traps for
anyone following, had impressed Freda greatly, and I didn't think that was an
easy accomplishment.
"You said I'd need to get ready for the Logrus. How? Is there some
training I need? A new skill?"
"You need strength and stamina and determination," Dworkin said.
"When I went into the Logrus nearly two hundred years ago, it almost killed
me. I lay feverish and near death for two weeks, and weird visions filled my
mind. I dreamed of a new kind of Logrus, one with a different kind of pattern,
and finding it has become one of the goals of all my work and research." He
gestured grandly, taking in this room and the ones beyond, "In fact, the more
I think about our enemies, the more I think this new pattern may be the
cause."
"How? Did you actually create it?"
"No... but I spoke openly of it when I was young, and I know it
brought me undue scrutiny. After all, if I had created a new Logrus... a new [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]