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been.
Bryl let the flames die away. Delrael staggered back, nearly tripping
over Mindar on the ground. Vailret went to help him.
The Cailee made a high-pitched moan, then faded as they watched,
dissolving away into the night.
Delrael stood trembling in the wake of his attack. He stared at the
blade of his sword as if to see how the Cailee had stained the steel, but it
seemed untainted.
Bryl whimpered in the firelight. Vailret crawled forward to join him.
Mindar made a choking sound on the ground. Delrael knelt beside her,
pushing aside a sharp rock. Her spring-green tunic had been crisped brown by
the fire. She shuddered, curling herself into a fetal position.
Together, Delrael and Vailret rolled Mindar on her back. Fresh, dark
blood poured out of her torn side. Her face had a wet, gray appearance. Her
mouth made a choking, sucking sound as she tried to breathe.
Delrael touched his fingers to her forehead. "It's gone. We killed it."
Vailret stared at his cousin, but Delrael would not look up. Mindar had
no chance. Vailret was amazed she still could think or speak. He doubted even
the khelebar healer Thilane, who had created a new _kennok_ leg for Delrael,
could have saved her.
Bryl hunkered down, wide-eyed in his fear. Journeyman appeared
disappointed that he had not been able to fight again. Off in the east, behind
the lair of Scartaris, dawn light seeped into the sky.
Delrael propped Mindar's head up and placed it on his knee. He brushed
her singed dark hair away from the lumpy _S_-scar. It reminded Vailret of how
Tallin had died in a pool of blood while Delrael held him. Delrael stiffened
and seemed to realize the same thing.
"We'll destroy Scartaris, Mindar." For a moment his face carried enough
anger to rival her own. "And I will have _fun_ doing it."
The flow of blood from her wound slowed, lacking the force of a
heartbeat. The last breath out of her mouth seemed to form one word.
"Luck."
But she did not die.
Mindar jerked in a convulsion that ripped through her body. She sucked
a long hiss of breath through her teeth. Vailret's eyes were drawn to the
livid _S_-scar on her forehead. The scar throbbed with a red light, like a
twisted channel of lava.
Mindar's skin grew red, also glowing. Heat poured from her body, and
Vailret had to step back. Delrael stared down. His jaw hung open in surprise;
his face was ashen.
The pools of wet blood on Mindar's skin smoked, bubbled, and burned
away from her form, fading even from her stained clothes. The open gash and
splintered ribs clenched themselves in a staccato spasm, like a mouth smacking
its lips, until the wound congealed, bound together and sealing the skin
without leaving a scar.
Her eyelids jammed shut, and she wheezed a great breath into her lungs.
Her chest rose and fell. She jerked.
"She said Scartaris wouldn't let her die," Vailret said. He felt as if
a great weight hung on his shoulders.
Delrael grabbed Mindar's shoulder, but she was still too hot and he
snatched his hand away.
Mindar twitched her muscles, then rolled over, stumbling to her knees.
Tears streamed from between her closed eyelids. The _S_-scar continued to glow
red. She struggled to her feet, then turned to face them.
Mindar stood straight and opened her eyes. She did not move. She made
no reaction at all.
Her eyes were blank white, and pupilless. Scartaris's eyes.
--------
INTERLUDE: OUTSIDE
Tyrone shook his head with an expression of naive astonishment.
"Man, this is getting pretty intense. How about we just, uh, take a
break for a while? Watch some TV. I've got all the _Star Trek_ movies on
tape." He stood up and looked toward the living room where the television sat
switched off like a dull gray-green eye.
"Shut up and sit down!" David's voice had a hollow power to it, an
alien sound that caused Melanie to jump.
She frowned and brought her own anger to the surface. David was doing
this just to sicken her, just to flaunt his disregard for the people of
Gamearth. "How can you you do that to one of your own characters, David?
Didn't you put Mindar through enough already?"
"She's my character. I can do what I want with her. It's _fun_." In the
globe light over the dining room table, his smile looked bright and jagged.
"We're playing this game for _fun_, remember?"
Melanie stared across the table at him. She felt stronger now, keyed
up. It didn't matter what David did. She had her characters. They were [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]