Defiant Swords (Durlindrath #2) Read Online Free Page B

another type of attack had come. They would soon see if
lòhrengai proved more effective than steel-headed shafts.
    In unison the lòhrens raised their staffs. Aranloth reached
forth with his hands. Lòhren-fire flared. A light, brilliant and flashing,
sprang into being, dazzling and shimmering with its varied colors: silver, white, green, blue and
many hues beside.
    The lòhrengai struck the serpent, and the air all about it
wavered with heat. Those who watched turned their heads away from the stabbing
brightness. A moment later there was a crack as of thunder; it rolled and boomed, drowning out the drums of
the enemy and their chanting. For long moments the noise throbbed, sending
shivers through the rampart and deep into the earth. Light and thunder roiled over Cardoroth, and then slowly
receded.
    Gilhain lifted his gaze, but t he serpent was still there .
    “How is it possible ?” he muttered.
    Unaffected , the creature swayed higher. The arrows that had prickled its skin were now burnt away, and their ashes drifted like black snow through the air. The slime on its belly steamed, but the monstrous thing was unharmed, oblivious to the
mighty power unleashed upon it.
    Gilhain struggled to think of something to do, but he , the supposed strategist,
the war-leader with a thousand tricks, was powerless and void of ideas.
Truly, Aranloth was right. The serpent was from another world, for powers that
would destroy a thing born of this earth were as nothing to
it.
    Aranloth looked ancient and weary, but he spoke with
unexpected determination in the face of what had just happened.
    “Long has been my battle against the Shadow,” he said.
“Mayhap it is ended, and Cardoroth with it. And yet know this, O king, the
lòhrens will fight, no matter that they lose.”
    Gilhain knew it. He felt it in his bones. He looked around
and sensed the same in the soldiers all along the wall. They would fight. Every
one of them would carry their blades until
the end. But if lòhrengai had not harmed the creature summoned to break them,
nor swift-flighted arrows shot from strong bows, then swords would not either,
no matter how defiant.
    “The great dark is coming,” he answered slowly. “Yet now I
feel better about sending Brand on his quest. He at least has a hope of life,
and it may be a long time before the same darkness overshadows him.”

4. A Haunted Man
     
     
    Brand grappled with the thought of the power that was in
him. He wanted no part of it, and vowed at some point during the night not to
ever use it again. Lòhrengai was for lòhrens, and he was a warrior. Besides, he
mistrusted it for good reason. Magic changed the wielder . It used
them even as they used it. For a lòhren less so than an elùgroth, because they invoked the art only at need, but that was beside the point.
He wanted to stay just as he was.
    Aranloth knew. He knew the dangers better than any, and he had known that hidden away somewhere inside Brand that power lurked . At least
he guessed it. But Brand did
not really blame him for saying nothing. Just as he himself knew that Kareste
faced a great choice, and that such choices must be discovered
and faced by the person , in their own time. Pressure from outside only got in the way.
    Dawn came after a long night. Brand’s choices were made,
though he supposed they would yet
be tested. But he thought no more of magic or problems or the dark corners of a
man’s soul. Instead, he reveled in the new day.
    The sun shone bright and clear. The sky was a glorious blue,
and the grass was green beneath the hooves of the horses as they got underway.
Afar, he heard the gurgle and rush of the river, and closer to hand the calls
of many types of birds that he had never heard before. But he could not see them , for they came from within the many small woods that
dotted the landscape.
    The horses travelled quickly. It was good country in which
to ride, the earth being soft and the way clear of obstacles. All should be well,