Taltos Read Online Free Page A

it, a very clever gypsy named Yuri, from the Talamasca. The gypsy would be dead right now if it weren’t for me.”
    “Are you sure the Taltos is dead?”
    “The gypsy told me. Ash, the Talamasca is in a dark time. Something tragic has happened with the Order. They’ll kill this gypsy soon, perhaps, but he’s determined to go back to the Motherhouse. You must come as soon as you can.”
    “Samuel, I’ll meet you in Edinburgh tomorrow.”
    “No, London. Go directly to London. I promised the gypsy. But come quickly, Ash. If his brothers in London catch sight of him, he’ll be dead.”
    “Samuel, this can’t be a correct story. The Talamascawouldn’t do such things to anyone, let alone its own people. Are you sure this gypsy is saying true things?”
    “Ash, it has to do with this Taltos. Can you leave now?”
    “Yes.”
    “You won’t fail me?”
    “No.”
    “Then there’s one more thing I must tell you right now. You’ll see it in the papers-in London as soon as you land. They’ve been digging here in Donnelaith, in the ruins of the cathedral.”
    “I know this, Samuel. You and I have talked about this before.”
    “Ash, they dug up the grave of St. Ashlar. They found the name engraved in the stone. You’ll see it in the papers, Ashlar. Scholars are here from Edinburgh. Ash, there are witches involved in this tale. But the gypsy will tell you. People are watching me. I have to go.”
    “Samuel, people are always watching you, wait—”
    “Your hair, Ash. I saw you in a magazine. Are those white streaks in your hair? Never mind.”
    “Yes, my hair
is
turning white. But it’s happening slowly. I haven’t aged otherwise. There are no real shocks for you, except the hair.”
    “You’ll live till the end of the world, Ash, and be the one to make it crumble.”
    “No!”
    “Claridge’s in London. We are leaving now ourselves. That’s a hotel where a man can make a big oak fire in the grate, and sleep in a big old cozy bedroom full of chintz and hunter-green velvet. I’ll be waiting for you there. And Ash. Pay the hotel, will you? I’ve been out here in the glen for two years.”
    Samuel rang off.
    “Maddening,” he whispered. He laid down the phone.
    For long moments he looked at the bronze doors.
    He didn’t blink or focus when the doors opened. He scarcely saw the blurred figure who came into the room. He was not thinking, he was merely repeating the words
Taltos
and
Talamasca
inside his head.
    When he did look up, he saw only Remmick pouringchocolate from a small, heavy silver pitcher into a pretty china cup. The steam rose in Remmick’s patient and slightly weary face. Gray hair, now that was gray hair, an entire head of it. I do not have so much gray hair.
    Indeed, he had only the two streaks flowing back from his temples, and a bit of white in his sideburns, as they were called. And yes, just a tiny touch of white in the dark hair of his chest. Fearfully he looked down at his wrist. There were white hairs there, mingled with the dark hair that had covered his arms now for so many years.
    Taltos! Talamasca. The world will crumble …
.
    “Was it the right thing, sir, the phone call?” asked Remmick, in that wonderful, near-inaudible British murmur that his employer loved. Lots of people would have called it a mumble. And we are going now to England, we are going back among all the agreeable, gentle people…. England, the land of the bitter cold, seen from the coast of the lost land, a mystery of winter forests and snow-capped mountains.
    “Yes, indeed, it was the right thing, Remmick. Always come to me directly when it’s Samuel. I have to go to London, right now.”
    “Then I have to hurry, sir. La Guardia’s been closed all day. It’s going to be very difficult—”
    “Hurry, then, please, don’t say anything further.”
    He sipped the chocolate. Nothing tasted richer to him, sweeter, or better, except perhaps unadulterated fresh milk.
    “Another Taltos,” he whispered