[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"You send him to kill the Dark One; yet he does not have the strength to do so."
"He will, eventually. He must."
"You have not made him strong enough," Anya insisted.
"No." The Golden One shook his head. "It is you who are weakening him."
"I?"
"You make him realize how alone he is. You make him desire companionship, even love."
Anya's chin rose a stubborn inch. "Have you ever considered, while you are playing your game of
infinities, thathe makesme desire companionship... even love?"
"Nonsense! You cannot..."
"I did love him," Anya confessed. "When I was in human form, living down there in those wretched tents,
he was magnificent. I thought him a god, almost. I think he reminded me somewhat of you."
The Golden One smiled. "Truly?"
"A god," she went on, "a being of great strength, and great goodness. And..." she hesitated.
"And what?"
"Great need." Anya's voice suddenly became almost pleading. "Can't you see how confused, how
painful, it is for him? Cast into a strange time and place, commanded to do things that are impossible..."
"He succeeded in his task," the Golden One said. "He has kept the continuum intact."
"At what cost?"
"The cost does not matter, my dear. Only the goal is significant."
"You would sacrifice him you would sacrifice all of them to save yourself."
"And you," the Golden One pointed out. "If I am saved, so are you and the others."
"And so ishe , the Dark One. He will be saved also."
"No. He must be destroyed."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"But you cannot destroy him without destroying us."
"That is not true. I will destroy him. This creature that you dote on will do that for us."
Anya looked down on Orion's silent body. "You know he can't achieve that. He is only a creation of
yours. The Dark One has powers that he cannot match."
"He will defeat the Dark One."
"He can't."
"And I say he will! We have already stopped him twice. I will keep sending out this creature to defeat
the Dark One, no matter how long it takes."
"Haven't you looked around you?" Anya demanded. "Haven't you seen what's happening? Are you so
egotistical that you believe you actually are winning this contest?"
"Iam winning," the Golden One replied. "The continuum remains intact, despite the Dark One's pitiful
little schemes."
Anya raised one hand, and the emptiness in which they stood was suddenly filled with vast swirls of
stars, boiling cauldrons of gas that glowed pink and ultraviolet, whirlpools of galaxies sweeping out to
infinity.
"Look!" she shouted over the rumble of the expanding, exploding universe. "See what is happening to
the continuum."
The Golden One followed her outstretched finger and saw stars collapsing in on themselves, titanic
explosions that flung out seething gases and then sucked them back in to an insatiable vortex of energy
until what was once a brilliant star became nothing more than a black hole in the fabric of space-time. He
saw whole galaxies succumbing to the same forces, winking out of existence, dying even as he watched.
"Do you think you are winning?" Anya demanded. "While the continuum is dying, piece by piece?"
The Golden One snapped his fingers and the starry universe disappeared. Once again they were in the
calm nothingness of the void.
"Do not be alarmed by side-effects, my dear," he said. "The battle is taking place on Earth. Of all the
planets of the continuum, of all the living intelligences in that universe, it is these creatures of Earth that
hold the key to our struggle."
"So you believe," Anya said.
"What I believe is true," answered the Golden One. "What I believeis the continuum."
"For how long?" she taunted. "How long will you be able to maintain your control? He is defeating you,
O mighty Ormazd. The forces of darkness are gobbling up the continuum, bit by bit."
"That will all be reversed once the Dark One is destroyed."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
With a sad, unbelieving shake of her head, Anya said more softly, "So you will send him back again?"
Glancing at Orion's waiting body, the Golden One replied, "Yes. It is necessary."
"Then I will go also."
"You are very foolish," said the Golden One.
"And stubborn. I know."
"You can't actually want to be with this... this, creature. You can't actually desire him."
She smiled. "He reminds me of you, a little. But where you have arrogance and power, he has
doubt and courage."
The Golden One turned his back on her, and abruptly disappeared. Orion's body began to stir; his
eyelids fluttered as his fingers clutched at emptiness.
Anya watched him. coming to life, and slowly she faded into nothingness. But as she dissolve the human
form that she had taken, her luminous gray eyes never left the face of the creature she had known, the
man she had loved.
PART THREE: FLOOD
CHAPTER 22
My eyes opened and showed me a blue sky bright with sunshine and puffy white clouds. The memory
ofKarakorum , of Ogotai and the Mongols, faded from my mind like a distant, echoing song. All I could
think of was Agla, the sound of her voice, the touch of her vibrantly warm skin, her beautiful face.
"Ormazd," I thought, "do you understand what suffering is? Do you know how cruel you are?"
Yet, even as I said those words to myself, I had the feeling that I would meet her again. Aretha, Agla,
whatever her true name was she was bound to me, and I to her, through all of time. No matter how
many centuries separated us, we would find each other. I knew it with all my soul.
I realized that I was lying on my back. Sitting up, I surveyed my new location. It was a broad open
meadow of cool grass that sloped gently down toward a distant river. Trees grew at the water's edge, the
first trees I had seen in a long while. The grass itself was long and wild and matted; no blade had ever cut
it, from the looks of it. Wild flowers dotted the land with color. Rocks and boulders jutted here and
there; no one had ever cleared them away. The trees by the river swayed in a warm wind; they rose up
from a tangle of low foliage that hugged the river's bank. There was no sign of civilization, no sign of
human beings ever having been here.
A rabbit's brown, lop-eared head popped up from the grass. It eyed me, nose twitching, as I sat there,
then hopped up closer, well within arm's reach. It had no fear of me at all. After a few moments of
inspection, it bounded away and disappeared into the long grass once again.
I looked down at myself. My garments were a simple kilt made of hide and a leather vest. A braided
belt around my waist held a small knife. I drew it from the belt and saw that it was made of a smooth
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]