[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Locke's here. It's complete& I checked after I took them back from his room.
Freda's Trump and Fenn's Trump are both there."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "Remember, hell-creatures searched our rooms. Have
you checked his Trumps since then? Maybe they borrowed a few. Or maybe Locke,
or whoever is impersonating him, used that Logrus trick of yours the one where
you pull items from distant Shadows and has them now."
He gasped. "I hadn't thought of that! Let me check." Turning, he ran out into
the entry hall.
"It was not a ghost," Freda repeated. "It was a man. I know the difference.
And itwas Locke. He always was an arrogant bastard. Who else would have dared
order me about like a common servant, even through a Trump?"
"What did he ask you to do?"
"He told me to come here. Our father needs me, he said. Forget about hiding
in Shadow, he said, and be a dutiful daughter. Come and help."
"So you came."
"Yes. How could I not?"
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"It sounds like he tricked you into joining us here," I said.
"What about me?" Fenn asked. "Why would he contact me and tell me to come
here? Freda is the powerful one, next to Dad."
"Get us into one place and it will be easier to kill us all."
"Let us assume it was neither Locke nor a ghost," Freda said. "What other
possibilities remain?"
"Here's one," I said. I willed my features to change, and in a second I
looked exactly like Locke, from arrogant sneer to haughty tilt of the head. I
faced my sister.
"Get thee to the Courts of Chaos," I said in a fair imitation of Locke's
voice. With a little practice, I think I could have matched it perfectly. "I
command you!"
"You are not funny," she said flatly.
"I wasn't trying to be." I let my face fall back to its normal appearance.
"Our enemies include shape-shifters. Remember the barber who tried to cut my
throat?"
"Ivinius? Yes, I remember that unfortunate incident. Butyou are clearlynot
Locke, even when you take his form. I know my brother well enough to tell the
difference. I was not taken in by a demon."
I sighed. She could be as inflexible as our father sometimes. And yet& she
had a point.
"At least concede the possibility," I said. "The Courts of Chaos are full of
shape-shifters, Aber tells me."
"True," Freda said, "but it is considered bad manners to impersonate people.
Also, the one who spoke with me not onlylooked like Locke, he acted and
sounded like Locke, and he had Locke's memories. Heknew things& "
"What sort of things?"
She blushed and looked away. That was a first; he had known something
personal, something embarrassing.
"It was& something that happened when we were children. No one else knows, or
will ever know. He offered it as proof."
"Maybe itwas him," Aber said from the doorway. I hadn't heard him return.
"His Trumps are gone."
"Maybe the man who died in Juniper wasn't Locke after all!" Fenn suggested,
sounding excited.
"What!" The possibility shocked me. "You mean& Locke might have been replaced
by a demon?"
"Yes!"
It seemed impossible. And yet, our enemies had gone to fantastic effort and
expense to destroy us. Would it be so hard for them to replace Locke with a
shape-shifter? One who would lead our troops to defeat in Juniper?
Page 118
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"No," I said firmly, remembering Rèalla and how she had looked when we found
her body outside. "A shape-shifter would have reverted to its true form after
its death."
"Yes." Freda nodded. "We all saw Locke's body. It was not a demon."
"There are other possibilities," Fenn said.
I looked at him. "Such as& ?"
"Perhaps Locke found a double of himself in one of the Shadows," Fenn said,
"and left him in charge while he slipped off to safety."
"That doesn't sound like Locke," I said. He was nothing if not duty-bound,
valiantly defending Juniper and our family even in the face of impossible
odds.
"No, it doesn't," said Freda. "And yet& if our father had ordered him to do
this thing& if he had a greater mission, which might save us all& yes, I
believe he would have left a double in charge of the army. At least for a
short time."
"And he might have taken Davin with him!" Aber said excitedly. "You said he
disappeared "
"No," I said. "I said we never found his body. He and his men lost that
battle. We assumed he went down fighting."
"But if he didn't "
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plalternate.pev.pl
|
