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the coffers of Earthfast at his beck and call.
Too, he s shown he can come up with new tactics, and ideas like that demon
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ship. He could very well have some way of bridging that grand foss out there
or cracking our walls, or bringing Freegate down around us. How long could we
last if he sent plague against us?
Now Katya was on her feet, hands gripping her knives, perfect face contorted
with hatred. No one asked you to come to us. If you are caitiff, go then.
Mayhap it s not too late to throw in your lot with your stepbrother.
He shook his head. I never said we have no hope, or that there s no chance
for us to hold fast. But we cannot think in the terms we ve been used to. We
cannot wait them out and assume they won t be able to come at us in some
unforeseen fashion.
Reacher pursed his lips. Where, then, does that leave us?
Springbuck ran a hand over his sparse beard and chose his words carefully.
We have some things which hold good promise. Our enemiesare a long way from
home, and as yet regard the bridgeway as the only entrance to and egress from
Freegate. Van Duyn and Gil MacDonald might have an idea of a way to alter
matters in our favor. And, we have the deCourteneys, who may prove to be the
most important asset of all. Gabrielle smiled at this; Andre watched without
comment.
Lastly, most of the drive of Earthfast rests in one man right now, Yardiff
Bey. It is to nourish his hungers and glorify his masters that battle has been
joined. If we can conceive of a way of striking at him, we will have a chance
to cut the head from the monster.
The meeting turned to further haggling and hypothesizing, but they were all
on a more productive track now. The Prince was satified that he d brought
their thinking closer to the demands of reality without robbing them of hope.
As the council began to break up, he made to speak again to Gil, but stopped
when he saw that the outlander had grown pale and was sweating, his breathing
labored.
You must rest, Springbuck said. You accomplish nothing with this.
Gil smiled wanly, and a droll reply was on his lips when he winced, as a wave
of dizziness overcame him. It was Hightower who caught him as he slumped to
the floor, and Katya who bawled for the house physician.
He was taken to a guest chamber nearby and examined. The doctor, finishing
his probings and scrutinies, shook his head.
I can find nothing wrong, he confessed; then he amended, or rather, I
can t find the cause of whatever strange malady this young man suffers from.
By this time Gil was drifting into and out of consciousness and
hallucinating. Andre came to his bedside and leaned his ear close, listening
to the fevered ramblings. He said, My sister and I would like to be alone
with this man; I think this is no natural affliction, or any illness conceived
in this world. It is work for us.
The rest left and the wizard and his sister took up stations on either side
of the bed. They made mystic passes with their hands, chanting, and soon an
evil entity crackled there, contained by their wills but impervious to them
otherwise.
* * * *
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A working of Yardiff Bey, no doubt of it, Andre said when they d rejoined
their comrades. Gabrielle nodded silently to Springbuck.
He s drawing Gil s essence, his soul, from his body. We could only catch a
few particulars on the periphery of the spell, but I think that the leeching
will be fulfilled at the passing of midnight. Bey is in some high place,
bending all his concentration to the task. He evidently considers Gil of
importance and finds him more vulnerable to sorcerous attack than any of us
who belong here on this plane. Gil s soul is estranged from its home world to
begin with, and that makes things much easier for Bey. And, too, there is this
profound depression, blighting Gil s resistances.
Well, the lad s been a great help, Hightower sighed. But if that
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