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his eyes tightly "This was the meaning of the terrible oracle that I cast. I
cannot give my own soul to win this fight - if I could, I would. You and you
alone can do this thing that will save our world. Two souls to save the
millions born and yet to be born, and the billions trapped and held in pain
and madness for a thousand years."
"And what of the fact that we are Karnee?" Ry snarled. "What of the fact that
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those we will give lives and souls and eternity to save would kill us and
cheer our deaths if they knew what we were?"
Dughall said, "If you yearn for revenge against all those who persecute the
Karnee, you couldn't find a more permanent kind than to walk away from this
thing I ask of you." "I yearn for an eternity with my Kait," Ry said bitterly.
"I know. If you walk away, perhaps you could somehow have it. You might hope
to escape Luercas. Certainly you would have each other longer than you will if
you do what I must ask of you."
Kait looked into Ry's eyes and saw her own pain and despair and disbelief
mirrored there. That they faced death - yes, she had already found a way to
deal with that. But that they faced oblivion
. . .
Ry's mind touched hers. That subtle bond, strengthened and refined by their
time apart, filled her with his love, and with ironic acknowledgment; the bond
they shared was the very thing that would, if they chose to fight Luercas,
consign them to oblivion. No one else could do what they did.
No one else could replace them. If they refused, there would be no brave
replacements to step into their places and fight in their stead.
She touched his thoughts with pictures of all the things they would be giving
up, not just for this one lifetime, but for eternity, Laughter and music, the
sweet scent of the wind blowing across a sun-warmed meadow, the touch of warm
rain on skin, the taste of a fresh-picked berry. They would never have
children together; they would never grow old together; they would never fight
again, nor would they ever again cherish the pleasure of making up. For them,
all of those things would cease to exist. They would cease to exist. It was
unthinkable - and yet it was the path they were being asked to take.
Dughall had once quoted Vincalis to Kait, and the words came back to her in
that moment:
Menforge swords of steel and fire; gods forge swords of flesh and blood and
tragedy.
Ry read that quote in her thoughts, and their reaction echoed back to each
other. We were chosen for this moment from the time of our birth. We were born
to face this path and make this choice.
Every struggle, every hurt we have ever faced, has made us stronger and
pointed us toward this day.
They pulled away from each other at last, and stood together facing Dughall,
and once again their
hands sought each other out and clasped tightly.
Ry looked down at Kait. "I doubted the hell of the philosophers," he said. "I
was wrong to doubt.
There is a hell, and this is it - to know heaven, and to cast it away for
yourself rather than see it destroyed for everyone."
Kait smiled at him, though her lips trembled and her tears slid along the
corners of her mouth so that she tasted salt. "You will not cast heaven away
alone. I will be with you - every moment that we have yet to breathe, I will
breathe with you at my side."
"You will do this, then?"
Kait turned to face her uncle. "I am Galweigh," she said. "He is Sabir. We are
born of Family. We know our duty to Family, to Calimekka, to Matrin. To the
gods. At last 1 discover the meaning of the
Galweigh motto: Kaithaeras tavan."
"All before self," Ry said.
"Let not the gods say that I cowered at the moment of their greatest need."
Her voice began to shake so hard that she couldn't say anything else. She
pressed her face against Ry's shoulder and fought to stop the tears.
"We will do what we must do," Ry said to Dughall. Then, softly and just for
her to hear, he added, "Nevertheless, we have some time yet together before we
reach Calimekka. If all of eternity is to be denied us, we'd best not waste
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this flicker that remains."
She did not look at Dughall again. Instead, she kept her face averted as she
followed Ry back to the cabin they shared. "How do we make these few days last
forever?" she asked him.
He smiled and shook his head and kissed her. "We cannot make time stand
still," he whispered.
"But we can make it run."
Ian stood at the door of the brig. Rrru-eeth, shackled to the wall, glared up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]