[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.processtext.com/abclit.htmlHe looked over at Ryer Ord Star, who was crying soundlessly beside him, her hands closed into fistsand pressed against her mouth.She was hunched over and shaking, and he pulled her against him, tryingto share with her a reassurance he didn t feel.On the other side of the room, the multilimbed metalattendant moved diligently from panel to panel, studying dials and numbers, touching switches andbuttons.It seemed to be monitoring things, perhaps studying the Druid s condition, perhaps recordingwhat was happening.Which was what?Still hidden away from Antrax and creepers alike within the protective seal of the phoenix stone s magic,Ahren tried to make sense of it.There could be only one explanation.Antrax was siphoning off Walker smagic.It had lured the men and women of the Jerle Shannara to Castledown for precisely that purpose,just as it had lured Kael Elessedil and his Elven command all those years ago.Once Walker was aprisoner, trapped underground and rendered helpless, the milking had begun.Ahren would suffer thesame fate, once Antrax found him; he would be drugged and bound and drained of life.He didn t knowhow the process worked, but he was certain of what it was.The metal attendant finished its duties and wheeled back toward the door.Ahren pulled Ryer Ord Starout of its way and watched it disappear outside, leaving them alone.He looked around the room, at allthe machinery.He could never hope to understand it, to learn enough about it to know how to free theDruid.The technology belonged to another era, and all knowledge of it had been lost for centuries.Ahren felt helpless in the face of that reality.He bent close to the seer. I don t know what to do, he admitted softly.She brushed at her eyes with the heels of her palms, swallowed her tears, and stiffened her body.Hereleased her, waiting to see what she would do-because it was clear she intended to do something.She took his hand in hers. Stay close to me.Don t let go. He followed her as she hurried to whereWalker lay, easing between the machines, stepping carefully over the wires and tubes.Ahren could seethat the Druid was alive.He was breathing and there was a pulse in his neck.His face twitched, as if hedreamed.His skin was bloodless and damp with perspiration.Of course, he was alive.He would have tobe alive to be of any use to Antrax.The Elven Prince fought down his revulsion and fear.Don t let me end up like this, he prayed.Let medie first.Ryer Ord Star looked over at him. I have to try to reach him.I have to let him know I m here. Turning back to the Druid, she trailed the fingers of her free hand over his face and down his arm to hishand, then back again.She spent a long time doing that, staring down at him as she did so, looking impossibly small and frailamid the metal banks of machinery.Ahren held her hand tightly in his, remembering her instructions,knowing that he was her lifeline back from wherever she might have to go to try to save the Druid. Walker? she whispered.There was no response.There was no movement at all that communicated understanding.His chest roseand fell, his pulse beat, and his features twitched.Liquids flowed in and out of his body, and the wires Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlflashed where they connected to the glass containers.He was lost to them, Ahren thought.Even RyerOrd Star was not going to be able to get him back.The seer straightened and brushed at loose strands of her silvery hair.Her face turned slightly towardhim. Let go of me, Ahren, she ordered. But stay close. Then she was climbing onto the metal table, easing carefully into the nest of wires and tubes, fitting herslender body to the Druid s, nestling against him as if a child clinging to a parent who slept.The Elf stayedso close to her that he could feel the heat of her body. Walker? she said again.She lifted her hands to his cheeks and turned his head toward her own,snuggling into his shoulder.Her leg fitted itself over his, so that they were intertwined. Please, Walker, she begged, the words breaking on her lips like shattered glass.There was no response.Walker lay as if his body had been drained of all but just enough life to keepdeath at bay. Please, Walker, the seer whispered again, her fingers moving across his face, her eyes closing inconcentration.Tears ran down her cheeks once more.Please, Ahren repeated the word in the silence of his mind, standing over them both, watching helplessly.Come back to us.Walker fought his way through the writhing tentacles of the jungle vines and grasses for what seemed anendless amount of time, burning them away to clear a path, fighting for space to breathe, and still heseemed to get nowhere.The jungle was vast and unchanging, and he could find no distinguishing featuresto mark his passage.In the back of his mind, deep within the hazy thinking that drove him on, he realizedthat by escaping Castle-down and gaining the jungle, he had merely exchanged one type of maze foranother.Having no other choice, he forced himself to go on.His body ached with fatigue; all he could think aboutnow was finding a place to sleep.He was beginning to hallucinate, to hear voices, to see movement, andto feel the touch of shades that weren t there.The sensations emerged from the green of the jungle, fromthe emerald sea he sought to swim, reaching out to him.They grew steadily more insistent, so much sothat they were soon overshadowing even the plants and trees of the jungle, causing some to fade andothers to change their look entirely.Oddly, the attacks on him ended, the vines and grasses drew back,and the undulations of the earthen floor quieted.He slowed his ragged advance and looked around, trying to decide what had happened.He heard someone speak his name.Walker? Please, Walker.He recognized the voice, but it was a distant memory he could barely bring into focus.He grasped for itnevertheless, clutching at it as if it were a lifeline.The surging earth was still, and the deep green of thejungle had darkened to something hard and black, a night sky filled with blinking red stars.A faceappeared, hazy and indistinct.It was a young woman s face, its thin, frail features framed with long, silverhair.She was so close to him he could feel the softness of her skin, and her breath upon his cheek was afeathery tickle.He felt her arms reach about him, cradling him.Where had she come from to find him,here in this jungle, in the middle of nowhere, a part of this madness? Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlWalker?He remembered now.She was Ryer Ord Star.She was the seer he had brought with him on his voyageout of the Four Lands.Of all those who might have found him, she alone had managed to do so.Hecould not understand it.Abruptly he was assailed by a rush of odd sensations, feelings that seemed foreign and wrong to him.Atfirst, he could not identify them, could not trace their source or determine their purpose.He stoodmotionless and confused in the fading jungle and the descending night with its odd red stars, the youngwoman clinging to him, the world turned upside down.Then everything changed in an instant.The jungle was gone [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.processtext.com/abclit.htmlHe looked over at Ryer Ord Star, who was crying soundlessly beside him, her hands closed into fistsand pressed against her mouth.She was hunched over and shaking, and he pulled her against him, tryingto share with her a reassurance he didn t feel.On the other side of the room, the multilimbed metalattendant moved diligently from panel to panel, studying dials and numbers, touching switches andbuttons.It seemed to be monitoring things, perhaps studying the Druid s condition, perhaps recordingwhat was happening.Which was what?Still hidden away from Antrax and creepers alike within the protective seal of the phoenix stone s magic,Ahren tried to make sense of it.There could be only one explanation.Antrax was siphoning off Walker smagic.It had lured the men and women of the Jerle Shannara to Castledown for precisely that purpose,just as it had lured Kael Elessedil and his Elven command all those years ago.Once Walker was aprisoner, trapped underground and rendered helpless, the milking had begun.Ahren would suffer thesame fate, once Antrax found him; he would be drugged and bound and drained of life.He didn t knowhow the process worked, but he was certain of what it was.The metal attendant finished its duties and wheeled back toward the door.Ahren pulled Ryer Ord Starout of its way and watched it disappear outside, leaving them alone.He looked around the room, at allthe machinery.He could never hope to understand it, to learn enough about it to know how to free theDruid.The technology belonged to another era, and all knowledge of it had been lost for centuries.Ahren felt helpless in the face of that reality.He bent close to the seer. I don t know what to do, he admitted softly.She brushed at her eyes with the heels of her palms, swallowed her tears, and stiffened her body.Hereleased her, waiting to see what she would do-because it was clear she intended to do something.She took his hand in hers. Stay close to me.Don t let go. He followed her as she hurried to whereWalker lay, easing between the machines, stepping carefully over the wires and tubes.Ahren could seethat the Druid was alive.He was breathing and there was a pulse in his neck.His face twitched, as if hedreamed.His skin was bloodless and damp with perspiration.Of course, he was alive.He would have tobe alive to be of any use to Antrax.The Elven Prince fought down his revulsion and fear.Don t let me end up like this, he prayed.Let medie first.Ryer Ord Star looked over at him. I have to try to reach him.I have to let him know I m here. Turning back to the Druid, she trailed the fingers of her free hand over his face and down his arm to hishand, then back again.She spent a long time doing that, staring down at him as she did so, looking impossibly small and frailamid the metal banks of machinery.Ahren held her hand tightly in his, remembering her instructions,knowing that he was her lifeline back from wherever she might have to go to try to save the Druid. Walker? she whispered.There was no response.There was no movement at all that communicated understanding.His chest roseand fell, his pulse beat, and his features twitched.Liquids flowed in and out of his body, and the wires Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlflashed where they connected to the glass containers.He was lost to them, Ahren thought.Even RyerOrd Star was not going to be able to get him back.The seer straightened and brushed at loose strands of her silvery hair.Her face turned slightly towardhim. Let go of me, Ahren, she ordered. But stay close. Then she was climbing onto the metal table, easing carefully into the nest of wires and tubes, fitting herslender body to the Druid s, nestling against him as if a child clinging to a parent who slept.The Elf stayedso close to her that he could feel the heat of her body. Walker? she said again.She lifted her hands to his cheeks and turned his head toward her own,snuggling into his shoulder.Her leg fitted itself over his, so that they were intertwined. Please, Walker, she begged, the words breaking on her lips like shattered glass.There was no response.Walker lay as if his body had been drained of all but just enough life to keepdeath at bay. Please, Walker, the seer whispered again, her fingers moving across his face, her eyes closing inconcentration.Tears ran down her cheeks once more.Please, Ahren repeated the word in the silence of his mind, standing over them both, watching helplessly.Come back to us.Walker fought his way through the writhing tentacles of the jungle vines and grasses for what seemed anendless amount of time, burning them away to clear a path, fighting for space to breathe, and still heseemed to get nowhere.The jungle was vast and unchanging, and he could find no distinguishing featuresto mark his passage.In the back of his mind, deep within the hazy thinking that drove him on, he realizedthat by escaping Castle-down and gaining the jungle, he had merely exchanged one type of maze foranother.Having no other choice, he forced himself to go on.His body ached with fatigue; all he could think aboutnow was finding a place to sleep.He was beginning to hallucinate, to hear voices, to see movement, andto feel the touch of shades that weren t there.The sensations emerged from the green of the jungle, fromthe emerald sea he sought to swim, reaching out to him.They grew steadily more insistent, so much sothat they were soon overshadowing even the plants and trees of the jungle, causing some to fade andothers to change their look entirely.Oddly, the attacks on him ended, the vines and grasses drew back,and the undulations of the earthen floor quieted.He slowed his ragged advance and looked around, trying to decide what had happened.He heard someone speak his name.Walker? Please, Walker.He recognized the voice, but it was a distant memory he could barely bring into focus.He grasped for itnevertheless, clutching at it as if it were a lifeline.The surging earth was still, and the deep green of thejungle had darkened to something hard and black, a night sky filled with blinking red stars.A faceappeared, hazy and indistinct.It was a young woman s face, its thin, frail features framed with long, silverhair.She was so close to him he could feel the softness of her skin, and her breath upon his cheek was afeathery tickle.He felt her arms reach about him, cradling him.Where had she come from to find him,here in this jungle, in the middle of nowhere, a part of this madness? Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlWalker?He remembered now.She was Ryer Ord Star.She was the seer he had brought with him on his voyageout of the Four Lands.Of all those who might have found him, she alone had managed to do so.Hecould not understand it.Abruptly he was assailed by a rush of odd sensations, feelings that seemed foreign and wrong to him.Atfirst, he could not identify them, could not trace their source or determine their purpose.He stoodmotionless and confused in the fading jungle and the descending night with its odd red stars, the youngwoman clinging to him, the world turned upside down.Then everything changed in an instant.The jungle was gone [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]