‘Yes. It says we may be tiny but we…we…pack a…sting.’ He swayed, eyes rolling, jaw agape, and fell. The flag covered his chest like a shroud.
‘Gods!’ Goyter exclaimed. ‘Dulian! Dulian! Do something, Quinn!’ she demanded.
Disgleirio and the fighters rushed to him. They loosened his collar. Disgleirio felt for a pulse. ‘Get him a healer,’ he pronounced. ‘Quickly!’
Autumn was shading into winter.
In the chill of a breaking dawn, four people stood on the crest of a hill, looking out to sea. To be exact, three stood and one sat on a curved hovering dish, suspended by magical energy.
A ship was nosing its way into the little harbour down below.
‘I wonder how many more this will bring?’ Serrah wondered.
‘That reminds me,’ Zahgadiah Darrok said. ‘I’ve had some figures compiled.’ He reached into a pouch, extracted a sheet of paper and unfolded it. ‘Taking into account the pathfinders who were already here, plus your band, Reeth, and all those who’ve made their way over since the troubles, we come to a total of two thousand, four hundred and sixty seven. That doesn’t count any of my people, of course.’
‘It’s not a lot compared to how many were supposed to get here, is it?’ Kutch said.
‘No,’ Caldason agreed. ‘But a small number can make a big difference, if they’re properly motivated. A lot of those who braved the journey have shown they are.’
‘I can’t help thinking about the others,’ Serrah admitted. ‘Tanalvah, Karr, Phoenix. Kinsel, of course. Even Quinn. How must they be faring, do you think?’
‘Hopefully they’ll get through. They’re all survivors in their way.’
‘Like us,’ Kutch piped up.
Caldason smiled. ‘Yes.’
‘My mind’s just as often on whoever betrayed the cause,’ Serrah added, her face darkening. ‘If I ever…when I find out who it was, I’m going to take a great deal of pleasure paying them back.’
‘That may never happen,’ Darrok told her. ‘My experience of life has been that sometimes it’s better to let the past go. Concentrate on the future. Try to make your dreams come true.’
‘I’m not sure about dreams. I think we’re witnesses to one dying.’ She lightened the mood. ‘How about your dreams, Reeth?’ She slipped an arm around his waist. ‘When will you be pursuing them?’
‘Soon, I hope. But it’ll involve another voyage.’
‘Well, next time I’m going with you, no matter what.’
‘Me, too!’ Kutch added.
‘We’ll see.’
‘Until then,’ Darrok said, ‘it looks like this place is going to be your home.’
‘Perhaps,’ Caldason replied. ‘But that might not be in our hands.’
‘Everything’s in our hands,’ Serrah told him. ‘We’ll learn to dream our own dreams.’
Red as blood, the sun rose on the Diamond Isle.
About the Author
STAN NICHOLLS is best known for the internationally acclaimed Orcs: First Blood series. His journalism has appeared in Locus, SFX, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mirror, Time Out, Sight and Sound, and Rolling Stone, among many others. He currently lives in the West Midlands with his wife, the writer Anne Gay.
www.stannicholls.com
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Books by Stan Nicholls
The Covenant Rising
The Righteous Blade
Credits
Cover design by ervin serrano
Cover illustration by Jon sullivan
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This book was originally published in Great Britain under the title Quicksilver Zenith in 2004 by Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE RIGHTEOUS BLADE. Copyright © 2004 by S. J. Nicholls. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™.
PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Microsoft Reader December 2005 ISBN 0-06-113077-X
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholls, Stan.
[Quicksilver zenith]
The righteous blade / Stan Nicholls.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.—(The dreamtime ; bk. 2)
Originally published in Great Britain under title: Quicksilver zenith. 2004.
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-073891-4 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-06-073891-X
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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