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"Here, with me," said the voice. I licked my lips. "Am I the first one?" Again, the laughter. "No. There have been others." "Where am I?" "With your mother." "Then& I am dead?" I licked my lips. "These are the Seven Heavens? My just reward?" I sensed puzzlement. "Where am I?" I asked again. "Good-bye& " said the voice. "Good-bye& " Page 71 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html "No!" I called. "Wait! Mother, I " Somehow, the world shifted. Suddenly everything was different. Sounds rose the rumble of thunder shouts of men I lay facedown, my left cheek pressed into the sand. I felt it moving, crawling about like something alive. Opening my eyes, I blinked at a sudden rush of color. Blues and browns and reds and greens blurred together like paints in a rainstorm. My eyes did not want to focus, so I concentrated on a couple of pebbles a few inches in front of my eyes. They whirled and danced in intricate patterns. As I stared, they slowly grew sharp and distinct once more. Not dead& that was the first and most important thing. An acrid, unpleasant odor surrounded me, like burning flesh. I coughed a bit. "Lord Aber?" distant voices called. "Get him up! Hurry! Inside!" When I tried to push myself up, though, I found my arms didn't want to obey. I fumbled, didn't have the strength to continue. What had happened? Lightning& lightning had struck me. Somehow, I had lived through it. I blinked again, took a deep breath, and sat up in a single motion. Coughing wracked my body. Boots crunched on the sand in front of me. Hands seized me, lifted me, began to carry me. "He's alive!" someone called. I wondered did he mean me or Aber? It took every ounce of strength, but I raised my head and tried to see what was happening. Tears blurred my vision. I couldn't see anything much. "Aber?" I croaked. A dark, unmoving shape a few yards ahead might have been him. No, he couldn't be dead. Moaning, I longed to crawl into a hole and pull the opening shut behind me. No, not Aber my one friend here I began to crawl. Sharp, knifelike pains stabbed my knees and hands. My back ached terribly, and my chest burned. My eyes watered so much I could barely see, and my tears streamed onto the ground. The dark shape ahead of me wasn't moving. If anything had happened to my brother, I didn't know what I'd do. I had to pause to catch my breath. Spots jumped and flitted before my eyes. My ears rang. Page 72 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html But I was alive. Just a few more feet and I'd reach my brother. Had he been hit, too, or had the lightning bolt jumped to him from me? An acrid smell, like burnt flesh and clothing, suffused everything. I prayed it wasn't coming from him. Suddenly the guards who had been exercising across the yard reached me, running full tilt. Without asking, four of them picked me up and carried me toward the house at a trot. "Aber " My voice came out a feeble croak. "Get Aber " "They have him, Lord Oberon." The voice sounded distant, as though he stood at the far end of a long tunnel. Somehow, I managed to focus on the speaker, a young officer with close-cropped blond hair and a slightly hooked nose. He supported my left shoulder as they carried me toward the house at a trot. "Dead?" I whispered. His lips moved, but I couldn't hear the words this time. My hearing seemed to be cutting in and out. Then I started coughing and couldn't stop. " lightning hit you, sir," he was saying. "Jace went for the company doctor. Don't try to talk, sir. You're both safe." "Aber " I said. "Can you hear me Lord Oberon? Lord Oberon?" "Yes& " My voice sounded like a frog's croak. "Is Aber is he dead?" His voice sounded louder this time. "Alive. Don't try to talk, sir. He hit his head. He's going to need stitches, but he should be all right." "Thanks." My brother still lived that was all I needed to know. I allowed myself to relax. They reached the door to the house and carried me inside. I hated feeling like a cripple, but didn't have the strength to object. The young officer and his men set me down carefully on the floor next to the wall. They all crowded inside, out of the storm, out of harm's way. My hearing definitely seemed to be returning. I heard crashes of thunder now, though it still sounded flat and far away. Stripping off his jacket, the young officer folded it into a makeshift pillow [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |