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.An urge to bare his teeth in a feral snarl was suppressed with effort.He swung from the black-eyed man, displaying a taut line of shoulder.Corwyth pointed."There."Kellin lingered a moment beside his horse.His head felt oddly packed and tight, so that the Ihlini's order seemed muted.A second shiver wracked his body, jostling aching bones.Not just cold-more—"Sit him down," Corwyth said, but before the minion could force the issue, Kellin sat down by himself."Better." Corwyth tended his own mount as his companions tended Kellin's.Kellin itched.It had nothing to do with bruises and scrapes, because the itching wasn't in his skin but in his blood.Flesh-bound hands flexed, curling fingers into palms, then snapping out straight again.He could not eat, though they gave him bread, nor could he drink, because his throat refused to swallow.Once again he leaned against a tree, but this time he needed its support even more than before.He felt as if all his bones were soft, stripped of rigidity.His spirit was as flaccid.He shifted against wood, grimaced in discomfort, then shifted again.He could not be still.Just like in Homana-Mujhar.He fixed his eyes on'^ ,240 Jennifer RobersonCorwyth, who sat quietly by a small fire."Was it you who drove me from the palace?""Drove you?""With sorcery.Was it you?"Corwyth shrugged- "That required neither magic nor skill.I know your habits.You gamble, you drink, you whore.All it required was the proper time."Kellin shifted again, hiding flesh-bound wrists beneath a fold of his cloak because to look on them was too unsettling."You set the trap.I put myself into it."The Ihlini smiled."A happy accident.It did save time.""Accident? Or my tahlmorra?"That provoked a response."You believe the gods might have planned this? This?" Corwyth's surprise was unfeigned."Would the Cheysuh gods risk the final link in the prophecy so willingly?"Kellin scowled- "Who can say what the gods would do? I despise them.,.they have done me little good."Corwyth laughed and fed a stick to the flames."Then perhaps this is their doing, if you and the gods are on such bad terms."Kellin shivered again."If Lochiel knows so much about me, surely he knows I have already sired children.Why kill me now? Before, certainly—to prevent the precious seed from being sown—but now it is too late.The seed is well sowed.""Three children," Corwyth agreed."But all bastards, and none with the proper blood.Halfling brats gotten on Homanan whores." He shrugged elegantly."Lochiel only fears the Firstborn child."Kellin stilled.Was it a weapon? "Lochiel is afraid?"Corwyth's expression was solemn."Only a fool A TAPESTRY OF LIONS241would deny he fears this outcome.I fear it.Lochiel fears it.Even the Seker fears fulfillment." Flames illuminated his face.It was starkly white in harsh light, black in hollowed contours."Have you never thought what fulfillment will bring?"Kellin laughed."A beginning for the Cheysuli.An ending for the Ihlini."Flames consumed wood.A pine knot cracked, shedding sparks.Corwyth now was solemn."In your ignorance, you are certain.""Of course I am certain.It has been promised us for centuries.""By the very gods you despise." Corwyth did not smile, nor couch his words in contempt."If that is true, how then can you honor their prophecy?"Kellin licked a numb lip.His body rang with tension, as if he were a harp string wound much too taut on its pegs- "I am Cheysuli.""That is your answer?" Corwyth shook his head."Perhaps you are more Cheysuli than you believe, even lirless as you are.Only fools such as your people dedicate themselves to the fulfillment of a mandate that will destroy everything they know."Kellin's mouth twisted."I have heard that old tale before.When the Ihlini cannot win through murder or sorcery, they turn to words.You mean to undermine our customs.""Of course I do!" Corwyth snapped."And if you had any wit to see it, you would understand why.Indeed, the prophecy will destroy Ihlini such as myself.but it will also destroy the Cheysuli."He extended an empty hand."The prophecy of the Firstborn will close its fist around the heart of the Cheysuli, just as I did yours, and stop it." He shut his hand."Just like this."It was immediate."No." Kellin twitched, then rolled his head against bark."You play with words, Ihlini."242 Jennifer Roberson"This is not play.This is truth.You see me as I am: a man, not an Ihlini, but simply a man who fears the ending of his race in the ascendancy of another.""Mine," Kellin agreed."No." Corwyth placed another stick on the fire.His gloved hand shook."The ascendancy is that of the Firstborn [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]