The Orb And The Spectre (Book 2) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Martin Ash
the means to undertake it. Do you see? No matter how far you might travel, the journey, truly, is one that leads inwards."
"I’ve contemplated such mysteries before," said Leth. "They are unanswerable, futile. The more one considers them the more one is taken through terror to the edge of madness."
"It is in a kind of madness, a letting go of all that is known and familiar, that an answer may be found."
"No!" Leth shook his head emphatically. "We are going too far."
"Too far? You, who have lived your entire life within the Reach? Have you not always known, somewhere deep inside you, that one day you might have to step over. You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side? We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel? Truly, this is only the beginning."
"Let me get my breath. Let me step back." Leth had broken into a sweat. His heart pounded, his blood hummed in his ears. "You are asking me to understand too much that I cannot grasp."
"It is you who are asking the questions, Leth."
"But your answers fill me with fear."
"An important admission from one who is King of his realm."
"Just let me take my own pace. You said once that this place is a prison. Are you its sole occupant? Can you leave?"
"I said also that it has a role, a purpose."
"Is its purpose not to contain you?"
"It is, but not for eternity."
"Then you can leave?"
"When certain conditions are fulfilled."
"Is it all so empty?"
"It is as you perceive it."
"Can others exist here? Do others exist here?"
"Ah, now that is an interesting point. The laws of this realm are very precise, held on a delicate balance. I have spent many ages trying to understand them and then to effect modifications of them. I ’ve been successful only to a small degree."
"But you are alone here?"
"The concept has no meaning when you understand that not only am I the tenant of this realm, the Orb, but I am also the Orb itself. Are you alone, Leth, within yourself? "
At the time Leth had had no answer. He had not even wanted to answer. The question, like the conversation that preceded it, had his mind spinning. He was left seated in numbed silence before the hunched, tattered figure, and then Orbelon had said, "We have spoken enough for today. Reflect upon these things, Leth. Until the next time."
And he had raised his staff and cast the King from his blue and empty realm.
*
Now Leth had an answer. As he came from the bedchamber where Mawnie lay in her madness, sedated and under guard, he knew without question that he was alone. Within and without himself. Issul gone, perhaps dead, perhaps a prisoner of his enemy. His people turning against him, his realm in peril of being overwhelmed and lost. He was anguished and raging, and aware that his judgement was no longer clear.
'You who have lived your entire life within the Reach. Have you not always known that one day you might have to step over ?'
My duty is to my people. I must protect them. I must bring them back to me.
'You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side? '
I have always questioned, thought Leth. Always wished to know. But not like this.
'We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel? '
He shook his head as he walked.
No! Not like this. Absolutely not!
He was overcome with a fear, greater, more chilling and more profound than he could explain.
TWO
I
The rain continued to batter Enchantment's Reach that day, borne in sudden violent blasts on angry winds. In the afternoon Sir Cathbo brought Leth the news that Prince Anzejarl's army had crossed Uxon's Ridge and was now within three leagues of Giswel Holt.
"That is surely his immediate goal. He has taken the march town of Wizened Lea. It fell without a fight, the majority of its inhabitants
"I’ve contemplated such mysteries before," said Leth. "They are unanswerable, futile. The more one considers them the more one is taken through terror to the edge of madness."
"It is in a kind of madness, a letting go of all that is known and familiar, that an answer may be found."
"No!" Leth shook his head emphatically. "We are going too far."
"Too far? You, who have lived your entire life within the Reach? Have you not always known, somewhere deep inside you, that one day you might have to step over. You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side? We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel? Truly, this is only the beginning."
"Let me get my breath. Let me step back." Leth had broken into a sweat. His heart pounded, his blood hummed in his ears. "You are asking me to understand too much that I cannot grasp."
"It is you who are asking the questions, Leth."
"But your answers fill me with fear."
"An important admission from one who is King of his realm."
"Just let me take my own pace. You said once that this place is a prison. Are you its sole occupant? Can you leave?"
"I said also that it has a role, a purpose."
"Is its purpose not to contain you?"
"It is, but not for eternity."
"Then you can leave?"
"When certain conditions are fulfilled."
"Is it all so empty?"
"It is as you perceive it."
"Can others exist here? Do others exist here?"
"Ah, now that is an interesting point. The laws of this realm are very precise, held on a delicate balance. I have spent many ages trying to understand them and then to effect modifications of them. I ’ve been successful only to a small degree."
"But you are alone here?"
"The concept has no meaning when you understand that not only am I the tenant of this realm, the Orb, but I am also the Orb itself. Are you alone, Leth, within yourself? "
At the time Leth had had no answer. He had not even wanted to answer. The question, like the conversation that preceded it, had his mind spinning. He was left seated in numbed silence before the hunched, tattered figure, and then Orbelon had said, "We have spoken enough for today. Reflect upon these things, Leth. Until the next time."
And he had raised his staff and cast the King from his blue and empty realm.
*
Now Leth had an answer. As he came from the bedchamber where Mawnie lay in her madness, sedated and under guard, he knew without question that he was alone. Within and without himself. Issul gone, perhaps dead, perhaps a prisoner of his enemy. His people turning against him, his realm in peril of being overwhelmed and lost. He was anguished and raging, and aware that his judgement was no longer clear.
'You who have lived your entire life within the Reach. Have you not always known that one day you might have to step over ?'
My duty is to my people. I must protect them. I must bring them back to me.
'You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side? '
I have always questioned, thought Leth. Always wished to know. But not like this.
'We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel? '
He shook his head as he walked.
No! Not like this. Absolutely not!
He was overcome with a fear, greater, more chilling and more profound than he could explain.
TWO
I
The rain continued to batter Enchantment's Reach that day, borne in sudden violent blasts on angry winds. In the afternoon Sir Cathbo brought Leth the news that Prince Anzejarl's army had crossed Uxon's Ridge and was now within three leagues of Giswel Holt.
"That is surely his immediate goal. He has taken the march town of Wizened Lea. It fell without a fight, the majority of its inhabitants
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