A Blackbird In Silver (Book 1) Read Online Free

fear.
    ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘We’ve been told that we must go to the Blue Plane before we even consider setting out after the Serpent. Without the H’tebhmellian ship you’ll stand little chance of getting there.’
    ‘I know,’ said Ashurek, looking levelly back at him. ‘I have been trying to reach the Blue Plane for years. Eldor was my last hope. But it is entirely up to you.’
    ‘We had better go together, then,’ the Forluinishman said quietly.
    ‘E’rinel, you can’t!’ exclaimed Arlena, clutching his hand.
    Estarinel replied, ‘I can’t judge you on hearsay, Ashurek. The H’tebhmellians sent us here to find companions, and since it is you we have met, fate must bind us together. I trust the H’tebhmellians and I trust Eldor. We share an enemy in the Serpent, do we not?’ He sounded more hopeful than confident.
    ‘Yes,’ agreed Ashurek. ‘That is very true.’
    ‘What Estarinel says makes perfect sense,’ Eldor put in to reassure the stricken Forluinish. ‘If, Ashurek, you would explain to them what you told me earlier, they might view things in a different light.’
    ‘I doubt it, Eldor,’ he sighed. ‘I will explain, but only to Estarinel. Not his companions.’ And he reached across the table and clasped hands, unsmilingly, with the Forluinishman.
    ‘Good,’ said Eldor. ‘And now, my dear, will you introduce yourself?’ He indicated the small, slim woman who so far had not uttered a word. Now she looked up at last. She was young and yet it seemed she had experienced suffering far beyond her years. Her long ebony-coloured hair accentuated the extreme paleness of her face, and there was something in her large dark grey eyes that no one could look into them for long.
    ‘My Quest is also to destroy the Serpent M’gulfn, and I must seek a way to the Blue Plane,’ she said in a quiet, toneless voice. ‘I am Medrian of Alaak.’
    Ashurek knew Alaak only too well. It was a small island belonging to the Gorethrian Empire, and the Alaakians were Gorethria’s bitterest enemies. He looked at her and said sharply, ‘Might we know your reason for joining this Quest?’
    ‘I have just told you,’ she said in the same flat voice, not meeting his gaze.
    ‘You’ve told us nothing,’ he said harshly.
    ‘Please,’ Eldor intervened. ‘There is time enough for the three of you to resolve your differences. Now, your meeting here may have led you to think that the Quest of the Serpent was in some way pre-ordained, but it is not so. There is no such thing as pre-ordination; it is merely that the time for the Quest is now ripe. It has become inevitable. Remember that you share an enemy, not just with each other but with all mankind; even with the world itself.’
    ‘You make it sound simple, Eldor,’ said Ashurek. ‘There is far more to it.’
    ‘There is a simple and a complex way of viewing most things,’ Eldor said with a rueful smile. ‘I have discovered the simplest view to be the wisest, in most cases. Begin with that, and it will guide you through the heaviest onslaught of complexities.’
    ‘I find you ambiguous,’ said the Gorethrian, glaring at him.
    ‘Whichever way you wish to take me,’ said the sage with a good-humoured shrug of his great shoulders. ‘Now to practical matters. The H’tebhmellian ship should arrive in some twelve hours’ time. I suggest that the three of you now be left alone to become better acquainted. Then you must take as much rest as you can before commencing your journey.’
    Refusing to be drawn into any further discussion, Eldor rose and motioned Estarinel’s four friends to follow him from the room. They all looked at Estarinel anxiously as they left, and he continued to stare uneasily at the door after Eldor had shut it behind them. Now the three were alone at the table.
    Ashurek stared broodingly across the kitchen. He was still not sure that he had been right to come to the House of Rede. There was the H’tebhmellian ship, it was true… but