[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The Hand took care not to talk to one person too long, but he made certainthat he said something to everyone.By the end of several hours every human in the Factree, including a pale andill-looking Trian, would have been prepared to swear that he or she had beenfriends with the richly dressed and politely spoken gentleman for eons.If they could just think of his name.The dignitaries gathered in the Factree, forming a circle around the statue ofthe Manger.The High Froman of the dwarves, Limbeck Bolttightner, would havethe honor of opening the statue, being the first to descend into the tunnels,Page 64 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlleading the way to the heart and brains of the Kick-sey-winsey.This was Limbeck's moment of triumph.He held the precious Sartan book* in hishand (not that the book was necessary; Limbeck had memorized it completely,besides which he couldn't really see it unless he held it up level with hisnose), and with Jarre at his side (now Madam High Froman), accompanied by ahost of dignitaries, Limbeck Bolttightner approached the Manger.The dwarf,who had started this wondrous upheaval by simply asking "Why?", gave thestatue a gentle shove.*Foreseeing their doom, realizing they would be forced to leave Arianuswithout completing their task, the Sartan left detailed instructions informingthe mensch how to operate the Kicksey-winsey.The book was written in threelanguages, dwarven, elven, and human, as well as Sartan.Unfortunately, atthis time the mensch races were already at war, divided by hatred andprejudice.The book fell into the hands of the Kenkari elves, a powerfulreligious order.Giving in to their own fears, particularly of the humans, the Kenkari hid thebook and suppressed all knowledge of it.The current Speaker of the Soul astudious man who, like Limbeck, suffered from insatiable curiosity came uponthe book and knew instantly what wonderful miracles it could bring to hisworld.He, too, was afraid of the humans, however, until an incident occurredthat caused him to see true evil.He then gave the book to Haplo, to be givento the dwarves.The Hand of Chaos, vol.5 of The Death Gate Cycle.The figure of the robed and hooded Sartan turned on its base.Beforedescending Limbeck paused a moment, stared down into the darkness."Take it one step at a time," Jarre advised him in an undertone, conscious ofthe dignitaries gathered around, waiting for them to proceed."Don't go toofast and hold on to my hand and you won't fall.""What?" Limbeck blinked."Oh, it's not that.I can see fine.All those bluelights,* you know, make it quite easy.I was just.remembering."*Sartan runes placed to guide the way down the stairs.Limbeck sighed and his eyes misted over, and suddenly the blue lights weremore blurred in his vision than before, if such a thing was possible."So muchhas happened, and most of it right here in the Factree.They held my trialhere, when I first realized that the Manger was trying to tell us how themachine worked, and then the fight with the coppers ""When Alfred fell down the stairs and I was trapped in there with him and wesaw his beautiful people, all dead." Jarre took hold of Limbeck's hand andsqueezed it tight."Yes, I remember.""And then we found the metal man and I found that room with the humans andelves and dwarves all getting along together.* And I realized that we could belike that." Limbeck smiled, then sighed again."And after that came thehorrible fight with the dragon-snakes.You were a hero, my dear," he said,looking at Jarre with pride.He saw her clearly, if he could see nothing elseclearly in this world.*Ironically, what Limbeck saw was a gathering of the evil dragon-snakes, whohad taken on forms of the mensch in order to insinuate themselves into theworld.Hapio knows the truth, but, seeing that Limbeck is quite taken with theidea that the races can live and work together in peace, Haplo has never toldthe dwarf what he really saw.She shook her head."All I did was fight a dragon-snake.You fought monstersthat were far bigger and ten times more horrible.You fought ignorance andapathy.You fought fear.You forced people to think, to ask questions anddemand answers.You are the true hero, Limbeck Bolttightner, and I love you,even if you are a druz sometimes." She said the last in a whisper and thenleaned over to kiss him on the side-whiskers, in front of all the dignitariesand half the population of dwarves on Drevlin.Page 65 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThere was much cheering, and Limbeck blushed to the roots of his beard."What's the delay?" asked Haplo softly.Quiet, keeping to the shadows, awayfrom the other mensch, he stood near the statue of the Manger."It's safe.Youcan go down there now.The dragon-snakes are gone."At least they're not down in the tunnels anymore, he added, but he added it tohimself.Evil was in the world and would always be in the world, but now, withthe prospect for peace among the mensch races, evil's influence was lessened.Limbeck blinked in Haplo's general direction."Haplo, too," he said to Jarre."Haplo's a hero, too.He's the one really responsible.""No, I'm not," Haplo said hastily, irritably."Look, you'd better get on withthis.The people on the other continents above will be waiting.They mightstart to get nervous if there's a delay.""Haplo's right," said Jarre, ever practical.She tugged Limbeck toward theentrance to the stairway.The dignitaries crowded around the statue, preparing to follow.Haplo stayedput.He was feeling uneasy and could find no reason for it.He looked, for the hundredth time, at the sigla tattooed on his skin, therunes that would warn him of danger.They did not glow with their magicalwarning, as they would have if danger had threatened if the dragon-snakes werelurking somewhere below, for instance.But he felt the warning still, aprickling of the skin, a tingle of nerve-endings.Something was wrong.He retreated into the darkness, planning to take a close look at everyone inthe crowd.The dragon-snakes might disguise themselves effectively as mensch,but their glinting red reptile eyes would give them away.Haplo hoped to remain unnoticed, forgotten.But the dog, excited by the noiseand activity, was not about to be left out of the celebrations.With acheerful bark, it bounded away from Haplo's side and dashed for the stairs
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
