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The Wizardwar :: Каннингем Элейн
Страница: 103 из 208Who are these others?"
"Iago is dead,"Matteo said softly. He eyes slid over the jordain's scattered remains and moved to the survivors. "Themo has a gash requiring stitching. Andris will have to speak for himself-his state is beyond my knowledge and understanding."
The ghostly jordain sat slumped on a rock, staring with unseeing eyes at the place where the laraken had disappeared.
"I will tend Themo," Basel said softly. "You see what can be done for the other."
Matteo came over and placed a hand on Andris's shoulder. It seemed to him that his friend was no longer quite
"She's alive," the jordain said flatly. "The Crinti spoke the truth. Kiva is alive."
Matteo crouched down to eye level. "How do you know?"
Andris cast a bleak look up at Matteo. "The laraken is back."
Basel glanced up from his work. "That's the problem with fighting monsters. It's rather like house-tending, in that it never seems to be done and over with. You spoke of Kiva's return. Why do you equate one monster with the other?"
"I saw Akhlaur's spellbook," Andris explained. "The necromancer created the laraken, but there are limits to his powers over it. He generally has an apprentice trained to summon the laraken, for he cannot. Who but Kiva could do this thing?"
Matteo blew out a long breath and sat down next to his friend. "Kiva, alive and aligned with Akhlaur! But how could she summon the laraken? You saw what happened to her last time she got too close to it."
Andris shook his head. "I have the feeling we’ll find out far too soon."
Chapter Eleven
The laraken was falling again. It flailed wildly, clawing at the swift-flowing stream of magic. Then the magic was gone, and the laraken stood mired to its haunches in murky water. Familiar sounds and scents filled the humid air. The puzzled creature realized, without understanding why, that it had been returned to the place of its birth.
Suddenly the laraken was ravenous. The Plane of Water had yielded a steady, constant supply of magic. Here in the swamp, the monster would need to hunt. The laraken threw back its head and sniffed the air. A faint scent of magic, the spoor of its prey, lingered in the humid air. The laraken followed the scent as unerringly as a hound, stalking out of the mire and toward the borderlands of the swamp.
It crouched behind the thick trunk of a bilboa tree and peered at the straggling line of humans cutting their way through waist-high grasses. Magic clung to them like scented smoke.
The laraken's black tongue flicked out, tasting the air with reptilian pleasure.
"Iago is dead,"Matteo said softly. He eyes slid over the jordain's scattered remains and moved to the survivors. "Themo has a gash requiring stitching. Andris will have to speak for himself-his state is beyond my knowledge and understanding."
The ghostly jordain sat slumped on a rock, staring with unseeing eyes at the place where the laraken had disappeared.
"I will tend Themo," Basel said softly. "You see what can be done for the other."
Matteo came over and placed a hand on Andris's shoulder. It seemed to him that his friend was no longer quite
"She's alive," the jordain said flatly. "The Crinti spoke the truth. Kiva is alive."
Matteo crouched down to eye level. "How do you know?"
Andris cast a bleak look up at Matteo. "The laraken is back."
Basel glanced up from his work. "That's the problem with fighting monsters. It's rather like house-tending, in that it never seems to be done and over with. You spoke of Kiva's return. Why do you equate one monster with the other?"
"I saw Akhlaur's spellbook," Andris explained. "The necromancer created the laraken, but there are limits to his powers over it. He generally has an apprentice trained to summon the laraken, for he cannot. Who but Kiva could do this thing?"
Matteo blew out a long breath and sat down next to his friend. "Kiva, alive and aligned with Akhlaur! But how could she summon the laraken? You saw what happened to her last time she got too close to it."
Andris shook his head. "I have the feeling we’ll find out far too soon."
Chapter Eleven
The laraken was falling again. It flailed wildly, clawing at the swift-flowing stream of magic. Then the magic was gone, and the laraken stood mired to its haunches in murky water. Familiar sounds and scents filled the humid air. The puzzled creature realized, without understanding why, that it had been returned to the place of its birth.
Suddenly the laraken was ravenous. The Plane of Water had yielded a steady, constant supply of magic. Here in the swamp, the monster would need to hunt. The laraken threw back its head and sniffed the air. A faint scent of magic, the spoor of its prey, lingered in the humid air. The laraken followed the scent as unerringly as a hound, stalking out of the mire and toward the borderlands of the swamp.
It crouched behind the thick trunk of a bilboa tree and peered at the straggling line of humans cutting their way through waist-high grasses. Magic clung to them like scented smoke.
The laraken's black tongue flicked out, tasting the air with reptilian pleasure.