Norton, Andre - Chapbook 04 by Serpent's Tooth (v1.0) Read Free Book Online

had lost hold on the broken rein, the horse backed away ffrom the steps and the liquid on them, showing the whites
of its eyes, foam dripping from its nostrils to slime its nose and the bony
expanse of its chest.   It retreated from Modic , from the building.
     
    Then
it swung half around and cantered awkwardly to Rentam's left. Modic was pulling on the head-concealing mask
that he had worn when they had entered Lonscraft .   As he did so he walked as does one who bends
his body against the force of a mountain wind, taking one slow step and then
another.   He gestured force ably with one
arm as if to keep off an attack of flies.   While in his other hand was that map which now was a fire to light the
whole of the stairway.
     
    If
that spark of light upon it had been fashioned to beckon, now surely it
proclaimed to be nearly to the goal.
     
    The
smooth running rill was disturbed on the surface, now dimpled as if a shower
fell upon it.   The flies gathered in the
upper air to become a black blot, still over the water but hovering above Modic as he climbed.
     
    Rentam shivered.   He had known
fear before, but it had always been caused by things he understood ... of one
of the Vort beasts raiding the herds of the Betweeners ... of the sickness which was supposed to strike
anyone invading the old cities, of the ill will of his own clan should he break
their few but skintight taboos (for that would un clan him and make him as one
dead walking among the living).   Now...
this was like fronting a cold rage, an are so great that his kin could not even
sense more than a portion of it.
     
    Here
lay in wait a will, a power, a brutal rule which shook him.
     
    Still
the time had come ... or he had come ... too far past the borders of its
control to struggle against it now.
     
    A
will, a power ... he was caught up by sharp command as he came fully into the
open passing the horse that now stood with drooping head as if the beast had
lost all hope.   This horse lived, so did Modic as he climbed from one step of the wide stair to the
next.   Still, though
    Rentam began search with his own heightened guide's sense, he could trace
back that bold assault against him to nothing!   There was no trace of man, of Betweener , of
animal, of life as he knew it, aroused to draw him shivering towards the
source.   To that highly developed sense,
trained to locate life, there came, at last, an answer from a source he had not
expected.
     
    From
the broken tip of the many-colored blade sped a thin thread of red and blue,
entwined one with the other.   Those were
the same colors as the light which had been thrown across the rubble-lined
streets of Lonscraft ... the fearsome alien weapon.
     
    What
did Rentam now hold?   An artifact which was a dueling ground for bursts of killing color?   By arousing his will, pitting his inner strength
against that pull, the guide was able to linger on the second step, even as Modic reeled and wavered far closer to that aperture above
which served as an ever open door.
     
    Inch
by inch Rentam edged around to look back over the way
he had come. The horse screamed and reared to strike out with its front feet as
might a war-trained stallion.   Around it
ringed a crowd of shadows, curious moving bolts of darkness which never clearly
showed themselves. Though there were a number of these remains gathered around
the horse, others padded to the foot of the stair to form a double line of dark
forms, though they avoided the running rill.   Rentam flicked out his tongue in their
direction.   Full of viciousness, yes, but
these were not a true part of that which waited within.   However they now formed a guard wall against
any retreat, and that could only mean that Modic and he
were being edged towards another and doubtless more powerful enemy.
     
    His
foot touched on the next step.   There was
a crackling, the sound of something rolling back toward the waiting band.   Rentam saw a skull,
polished enough to