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bow. "No! Emien, no!"
Jaric leaped forward, caught her slight waist. His hands tangled in long dark
hair as he dragged her back, shivering and weeping in his arms. "Taen, what's
wrong?"
Sails ruffled overhead asTroessa swung pilotless into the wind. Jaric cradled
the enchantress against his shoulder and ached for the power to shelter her.
Surf crashed, nearer and more distinct, over Elrinfaer's unseen shore. Taen
looked up with anguished eyes. The dream link which woke her to night-mare
ripped out of control and swept Jaric into rapport.
Possessed by ice-edged hatred, Jaric grippedCallinde's thwart. She lay
beached on the cream sand of a cove, her sails left carelessly sheeted. Yet
the mishandling of the boat did not trouble him, since the emotions he
experienced were another's; following the slender white-haired figure of his
mistress, he leaped ashore in Emien's boots, fingers clenched round the haft
of an unsheathed rigging knife.
Deadly, silent, he coiled his body and sprang. Steel gleamed in the fog.
Consumed by poisoned triumph, he raised his arm and buried his blade to the
crossguard in the woman's defense-less back.
Tathagres staggered and fell, pale hair scattered across un-marked sand. Her
beautiful features twisted in agony as Emien tore her collar aside, reaching
with bloodied fingers for the band of gold beneath. He caught the necklace,
twisted fiercely. The metal proved hollow; it crumpled and split, spilling
dark liquid over Emien's knuckles. Scalded by caustic reaction, his skin
blistered and bled. Emien cried out. He jerked back, just as somethingother
stabbed his mind like hot wire.
The contact broke. Wrenched back toTroessa's gentle motion, Jaric stared in
horror at the dream-weaver who lay against his shoulder.
Surf boomed loudly, dangerously close. Taen heard, push-ing free of his hold.
"Sail!" she said frantically. "Tathagres is dying, and Emien has the Keys."
Jaric stumbled overTroessa's stern seat and threw his weight against the
tiller. The ketch swung, maddeningly sluggish. Her canvas ruffled, flopped and
drew taut in the wind. Sudden thunder shook the air. Wind sprang up. A gust
tore shrilly through the rigging andTroessa jerked sideways onto her thwart.
Taen clung gamely in the bow. With small desperate hands she clawed the
jibsheet free. Canvas banged, frayed to tatters by the gusts. Spray dashed
madly over the bow. Half-blinded by salt, Jaric fought for control of the
helm. Ahead the mist streamed and parted. Hard alee lay a shoreline of
terraced rock, and the windowless spire of Elrinfaer Tower raised like a spoke
against the sky.
Troessalifted, flung on the crest of a breaker. Jaric leaned forward, jerked
her leaded swing-keel up into its casing. The wave broke with a rush, hurling
the boat toward the shore. Jaric caught a hurried glimpse ofCallinde, pressed
flat on her side against a white crescent of beach; then Taen loosened the
mainsheet also. The boom swung, blocking his vision. But Jaric needed no sight
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to confirm the small still form which sprawled beyond, under the edge of the
rocks.
Troessagrounded with a scrape. Taen leaped the bowsprit and splashed
calf-deep into the cold flood of the sea. Jaric followed. Foam swirled over
his boot tops as he yanked a line from the bow. Emptied of weight, the light
boat slewed side-wards as the following wave crashed around her rudder. Jaric
leaned into the rope, grateful not to be wrestling the heftier bulk
ofCallinde. By the time he crossed shallows to the tide mark, Taen had gone on
ahead.
Lightning laced the sky and thunder rumbled. Jaric thrust his hands
intoTroessa's forward locker and pulled out dagger and sword. Wet leather
sloshed against his feet, which became caked with dry sand as he ran up the
beach. Ahead, lit by a savage flash of lightning, he saw the dream-weaver
crouched over Tathagres' crumpled form.
"Stop Emien!" she shouted over the rising fury of the ele-ments. "I'll stay
with her."
Jaric hesitated. Dwarfed by forbidding rocks, he touched his sword hilt with
uncertain hands, and wondered what Tele-mark had felt when he had killed as a
mercenary in the Duke of Corlin's army. The thought raised every self-doubt
which had poisoned his childhood at Morbrith.
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