Mercedes Lackey Vows and Honor 2 Oathbreaker(1)

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all I was going to get out of him, when suddenly he stopped raving,
Kethry felt a prickle of fear when the bond of she enedran between herself and Tanna transmitted
sent another surge of the incredibly cold rage her oathsister was feeling. I ve never known
anyone who could sustain that kind of emotion/or this long without berserking. Had Tanna been
anything other than Kal enedral someone, or several someones, would be long dead by now,
hacked into many small pieces....
I fixed her, he said. I fixed her properly. I planned it all so beautifully, too. I had Zaras bespell
one of his apprentices to look like me, and sent the apprentice off with the rest of the Court on a
three day hunt. Then Zaras and I waited for the bitch in the stables; I distracted her, he hit her
from behind with a spell, and when she woke up, her body
belonged to Zaras. He had her saddle up and ride out just as if it were any other day, but this time
her destination was my choice. We took her to the old tower on the edge of Hielmarsh; it s
deserted, and the rumors I had spread about hauntings keep the clods away.
From there, what Tarma told them horrified even Kethry, inured to the brutality of warfare as she
was. And she, of the three of them, had been the least close to the Captain; Tarma s own internal
torment was only too plain to her oathsister, who was continuing to share in it and Jadrek s
expres-sion could not be described.
Idra s torture and punishment had begun with the expedient most commonly used to break a
woman multiple rape. Rape in which her own brother had been the foremost participant. Char s
methods and means when that failed became more exotic. Jadrek excused himself halfway
through the toneless recitation to be audibly sick. When he re-turned, pale, shaking and sweating
with reaction, Tarma had nearly finished. Kethry s stomach was churning and her throat was
choked with silent weeping.
His own sister Kethry shuddered, her eyes burning and blurring with her tears. No matter
how much he hated her, she was still his sister!
Tarma came closer, looming over the table like a dark angel. She took the dagger from her belt,
and held it out into the light of the table-candle. She held it stiffly, point down, in a fist clenched
so tightly on the hilt that her knuckles were white.
Oathbreaker, I name him, Tarma said, softly, but with all the feeling that she had not given vent
to behind the words of the ages-old ritual of Out-casting. Oathbreaker he, and all who stand by
him. Oathbreaker once by the promises made to kin, then shattered. Oathbreaker twice by the
violation of king-oath to liegeman. Oathbreaker three times Oathbreaker a thousand times by
the violation of every kin-bond known and by the shedding of shared blood.
Oathbreaker, I name him/ Kethry echoed, rising to place her cold hand over Tarma s, taking up
the thread of the seldom-used passage from the Mercenaries Code, She choked out her words
around a knot of black anger and bleak mourning, both so thick and dark that she could barely
manage to speak the ritual coherently through the chaos of her emotions- She was still
channeling, but now she was channeling the emotion through the words of the ritual. Emotion
was power; that was what made a death-curse so potent, even in the mouth of an untutored
peasant. This may well once have been a spell and it was capable of becoming one again. She
knew that even though she was no priest, chan-neling that much emotion-energy through it had
the potential of making the Outcasting into something more than mere ritual.
Oathbreaker I do name him, mage to thy priest. Oathbreaker once she choked, hardly able to
get he words out, by the violation or sacred bonds. Oathbreaker twice by the perversion of
power granted him for the common weal to his own ends. Oathbreaker three times by the
invocation of pain and death for pleasure.
Somewhat to her surprise, she saw Jadrek stand, place his trembling, damp hand atop hers, and
take up the ritual. She had never guessed that he knew it. Oathbreaker, I name him, and all who
support him, he said, though his voice shook. Oathbreaker I do name him, who am the common
man of good will, making the third for Outcasting. Oathbreaker once by the lies of his tongue.
Oathbreaker twice by the perversion of his heart. Oathbreaker three times by the giving of his
soul willingly to darkness.
Tarma slammed the dagger they all had been holding into the wood of the table with such force
that it sank halfway to the hilt. Oathbreaker is his name; she snarled. All oaths to him are null.
Let every man s hand be against him; let the gods turn their faces from him; let his darkness rot
him from within until he be called to a just accounting. And may the gods grant that mine be the
hand! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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