Chosen of Nendawen Book 1 The Forgotten Realms

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.But as Hweilan watched, his jaw kept opening, and Hweilan saw the ice forming there, growing, pushing his jaws apart.It was past the point of comfort, then kept going, into pain, and Hweilan feared at any moment she’d hear tendons breaking, skin tearing.When Lendri cried out at last, Kunin Gatar stopped and leaned down so that her face was only inches from Lendri.“I can send that all the way down your throat.I can freeze the blood in your veins and keep you alive.I can think of ways to kill you that will take days and nights and days again.But you’ll be begging for mercy in the first few moments.”The queen released him, whirled, and stomped away.The ice in Lendri’s mouth shattered, and he breathed out in a great cloud of steam.Kunin Gatar stood in front of her throne and pointed an accusing finger at Lendri.“You killed him! You murdered Miel!”Lendri swallowed, flexed his jaw and seemed to bite back pain, then looked up at the queen.“He would have killed me.”The queen’s hand dropped back to her side.“Oathbreakers die,” she said.“He did only his duty.”“It was him or me,” said Lendri.“I chose me.”Kunin Gatar chuckled, but there was no mirth in it.“You chose poorly.Miel might have killed you.He might have even skinned you for a rug.But it would have been quick.Not at all what I’m going to do to you.”Lendri said nothing.His head fell again, and his hair hid his face.Hweilan couldn’t tell if it was from resignation, or if he simply no longer had the strength to look up.“Which brings us to you,” said the queen, returning her attention to Hweilan.“What to do with you …” She sat and let her fingers play over the sharp shards of her throne.“You are kin to this one.Do you deny it?”“No,” said Hweilan.“You share his blood,” said the queen.“Would you share his fate?”“She does not share his crime, my lady,” said Menduarthis.Both Hweilan and the queen looked to Menduarthis.Roakh was scowling up at him.“What is she to you, Menduarthis?” said the queen.He shrugged.“Interesting.”The queen laughed.“You jest.”“No, my lady.I knew it the moment I saw her.Human? Yes.And Vil Adanrath? Some, yes.But the other … can you not smell it in her?”Menduarthis smiled.Roakh looked from his queen to Menduarthis, and his scowl deepened.“Menduarthis is a liar and conniver,” said Kunin Gatar.“And many troublesome things besides.But in this, I think he is telling the truth.”“What is that supposed to mean?” Hweilan said.The queen looked to Menduarthis, and again Hweilan was struck by the girlish expression on a being of such power.‘ She’d never had an older sister, but if she had, one who i perhaps liked to torment her younger siblings, she would have very much expected to see a look on her face like the queen had now.“She really doesn’t know?” said the queen.“So it would seem, my queen,” said Menduarthis.“What is this?” said Hweilan, looking back to Menduarthis.“Yes!” said Roakh, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.“What?”“Oh, flutter off,” said Menduarthis.Roakh stood to his full height, which was still well below that of Menduarthis, and shouted, “I demand to know what!”“Be silent, crow,” said the queen, barely more than a whisper.Roakh snapped his mouth shut and glared at Hweilan.“Hweilan,” said the queen, and Hweilan turned to look at her.“Child of Damarans and Vil Adanrath.And what else, I wonder?”“1 have no idea what you’re talking about.” It was true.The queen stood from her throne, and the seat crumpled to frost behind her.She walked to Hweilan, and it was all Hweilan could do to keep from backing away.“Let’s have a look, shall we?” said the queen.There was a hiss in the air around her, and before Hweilan could move she found herself encased in ice, much like Lendri, only her hands and head free.She could not move, and she could feel the cold swiftly seeping through her heavy clothes.Kunin Gatar took Hweilan’s right hand in both of her own, and very gently opened her fingers.Hweilan was too shocked to resist.“What is this?” said the queen, studying the scar.“Curious, isn’t it?” said Menduarthis.“What does it mean?” the queen asked.“I don’t know,” Menduarthis said, and at the same time, Hweilan said“Death.”The queen looked up, and Hweilan felt the Presence in her mind flex its claws.“What?”“S-so Lendri told me,” said Hweilan.“K-A-N.The runes are Dethek.But Lendri says it is a word of the Vil Adanrath for ‘death.’ ““Hm,” said Menduarthis.“Curiouser and curiouser.You are a mystery, little flower.”Hweilan felt a sharp pain in her palm.She gasped and looked down.A thin shard of ice pierced the middle of her palm.The queen held the other end, and even as she watched, the ice turned red with blood.The queen pulled it out and held the red icicle in front of Hweilan’s eyes.“We shall see.”Kunin Gatar closed her eyes, her lips parted, just slightly,and slid the frozen blood into her mouth [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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