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 In these woods, the air drafts are tricky. The
scent of cooking meat might go for miles.
 You know where we are?
Jerro nodded slowly. He laid the berries out
between them. It seemed a paltry meal, but Lorien
was famished. She popped a couple of the blue-
green berries into her mouth and chomped down
hard. The juices squirted down her throat, almost
choking her.
 Be careful. They are potent.
 Not so strong, she choked out.  I swallowed
wrong. Lorien was more careful with the next
couple. Somehow, the handful of berries was more
than she could eat.
 They re quite filling and give all the energy
you need, Jerro said.
 No, Lorien said vehemently.  You give me all
the energy I need. What you offer can t be found
in a berry. She popped another into her mouth.
 If it can, we bottle it and make a fortune!
 We are not far from the edge of the Forbidden
Woods, he said.  Can you locate my family?
 Tell me about them, Lorien said, pressing her
hand over her breast. The ring felt warm to the
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touch through the leather tunic. She wondered if
there was a spell she might utter that would find
his family for them in a hurry. If not, they would
blunder along aimlessly hunting for the spot
where Sannea had trapped them all to use as a
lever against Jerro.
 You heard that they are not my blood
relatives, but I am responsible for them. It s a
small herd, as these things go. I think two of the
colts might be centaurs, but the first transmute
doesn t usually occur for a year to more.
 Is that what happened with you? She felt the
sadness radiating from him like heat from a stove.
There was no need to rely on the telepathic link
they had developed to know he was not recalling
pleasant memories.
 I was different. I was born into a human
family. The first time I underwent a transmute, all
three moons came into the sky. I was trapped as a
centaur for more than three years. My human
family abandoned me, but the herd accepted me
as one of them. That s part of the reason I owe so
much to the horses, the real horses in my herd.
 Can you talk to them? Or communicate?
 Fairly well. There is something missing at
times, but horses are not possessed of a complex
language. Only when I try to put human concepts
into the neighs and whinnies a horse can
understand do I find it hard.
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 How many are there in your herd? Lorien
had visions of Jerro, as a centaur, fighting and
winning the leadership of the herd from a massive
stallion. Jerro, as centaur, would be smaller but
would make up for the difference with his
brainpower. She wished she could have seen the
battle.
Then again, she knew she did not. The chance
that Jerro would be killed tore her apart inside.
 I was seriously injured, Jerro said, reading
the gist of her thoughts.  More than a month
passed before I could do more than hobble on my
injured right front leg.
Lorien had to laugh. It was strange for the
human Jerro to speak of his injured right front leg,
but he straddled two different worlds. Centaur
and human were similar but entirely different in
many things, she guessed. Just as her world and
this one were similar but ever so different.
 You want to go home, don t you?
 I want to help you, Lorien said. She meant it,
and Jerro accepted that mental promise.  What do
we do?
 There is only one thing we can do.
 Find Sannea and deal with her. Lorien felt a
sudden collapse of her good spirits. Fighting
Sannea either physically or using magic led only
to their destruction. What other course they had
eluded her.
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Aurora Jamison
 We re near the Forbidden Woods. She
wouldn t return to her mansion with Taltarian and
his soldiers scouring the countryside. Even if she
trapped most of them in that snare of hers,
Taltarian need only send to King Arrin for more.
 The king does not have a large army, but they
are well trained. They would never march into her
mansion all at once, no matter what spells she cast.
Taltarian would not be so foolish as to leave his
sorcerers back in the City.
 Then we re agreed. Sannea is hiding out in the
Forbidden Woods. How big an area does the
forest cover?
 Miles and miles, Jerro said.  No one knows
the full extent, save possibly Sannea.
 So we fight on her turf. Lorien settled down
and thought hard. She might establish a mental
link with the sorceress the way she did with Jerro.
Such an open communication, mind to mind,
would be dangerous. Sannea had power and used
it ruthlessly. Lorien might fall under some
controlling spell, give away the ring and unleash
untold horror on the world.
 How many keys are there that Sannea is
hunting in other worlds?
 I don t know, Jerro said.
 Three.
Both of them whirled about and saw Ploviss
moving through the ankle-high grass toward
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Lost Lore
them, the snake s progress came at a price. His tail
curled about the carved wooden box Lorien had
abandoned when she had found Jerro in the
stables.
 It s good to see you again, Lorien said,
reaching out to stroke along the snake s body. Her
hand slid easily along the scales and, from the
expression on the ophidian s face, he would have
purred if he had been a cat.
 I thought you were goners when you went
into the pit, Ploviss said.  You two are heartier
than I expected.
 Together we are, Jerro said.  Apart, we are
merely . . .
 Competent, Lorien finished for him. She
reached down and picked up the box.  Thank you
for keeping this for me.
 I gave it to you back in the prison. I intend for
you to keep it.
 You brought it for me? I hadn t known. I just
found it and thought someone had abandoned it,
for whatever reason. She had thought at the time
that another prisoner had left it behind because of
execution or torture.
 The dust does not affect me as it does you.
 Because you re cold-blooded and we re warm-
blooded?
If Ploviss had shoulders to shrug, he would
have.
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 We need to find Sannea. Can you help us? Did
you see where she went?
 Ah, the sorceress responsible for trapping me
in this sorry body. Yes, of course, I know where
she went. Her travels are all that concern me.
Ploviss turned a gimlet eye to Lorien.  You have
not learned the spells necessary to free me of this
body and return me to my proper form?
 I don t think so. All I know how to do is open
the magical archway doors. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]