Yet for all these years—lo, all these centuries—there is but one mirror, with one visage, I cannot forget. It has haunted me from the start, from that very first instant. And it haunts me no less to this day. Mirrors, I assure you, can cause more pain than broadswords, mor...
Though I had been struck by the brutality of her words, I had been struck even more by the anguish in her voice. Eremon rose slowly to face her. “Would it be fair to say, my sister, that Hevydd might have lived if he had understood more?” “Perhaps,”...
And even more by how they leave. Transfixed, Krystallus stared up at this strange new sight. Where the throbbing thread joined the monster’s body, the skin had started to bubble, ripple, and bulge. This beast is transforming! Anxiously, he chewed hi...
Its birthplace is the stars, to be sure. But its home, its dwelling place, is far away—across the great reaches of the sky, in the eyes of every person who gazes, in wonder, at the stars. Basil rose into the sky, riding the wind once more. His thoughts, though, remained in...
Its floor, walls, and furniture all sparkled with a moist, silvery sheen, like frozen mist. The ceiling, unlike any they’d ever seen, tapered to a point high above their heads. All at once, the truth struck home, and they turned to each other. “We’re inside the tree!” they...
So cold! Darkness filled the hut, along with the odors of goat dung and smoky clothes. Shivering again, I could see with my second sight that the scarf had slid off my chest. Yet that wasn’t the real problem: The fire had gone out completely. I rose, flexed my stiff finger...
The walls, ceiling, and floor of this cave radiated and danced with color. Crystals sparkled and flashed all around us, as if the light shining on a rippling river had been poured into the very earth. And I am quite sure that my own face glowed as well, for even in the days when I could see with ...
We settled for the night by a barely trickling stream a few hundred paces from the remains of the shifting wraith. Each consumed by his own thoughts, neither of us spoke. While Shim stared hard at the eroded banks to make sure that no deadly creatures hid there, I mixed a poultice from my satchel...
Basilgarrad flew swiftly, shearing the tops of high, bulbous clouds with his wings. Spread wide, those wings glistened, each of their thousands of green scales covered with mist from the clouds, each of their powerful muscles rimmed with rivers of vapor. With every rhythmic beat, sheets of drople...
Elli threw a punch at the air to emphasize her point. But her stride never slowed as she neared the crest of the snow-dappled hillside. Brionna, who was walking a few paces ahead, stopped. With her sharp eyes, she scanned the serrated ridges of the high peaks in the distan...
Screeching wildly, the silver-winged falcon flew down the side tunnel and around the central cavern, diving at waterbirds and surprised dragon guards, causing a considerable stir. The excitement really picked up when she clawed the eye of one dragon, who nearly leaped out of the water and slapped...
I tried everything possible to find the key to the puzzle. Time after time, I trudged up the spiral stairs and down again, searching for the right place to start. I backed away, scanning the walls for some sort of pattern. I came very close, laying my forehead against the cool wood, examining eac...
With each stroke of her silvery white wings, he could feel a sudden tensing of her shoulder muscles beneath him—and a powerful whooooosh of air that blew with the force of a giant’s breath. Above, beyond the shredding clouds, the stars burned bright. So bright that Tamwyn ...
My satchel of herbs felt heavier, now that it also carried Honn’s dagger. As my boots crunched on the dry, crusty soil, my staff clicked against the ground. Every so often my shoulder rubbed against the staff’s knotty top and I caught a faint scent of hemlock. Shim, grumbl...
“He’d play with me, Burl! I’m sure he would.” She stood in the shadow of the tree one morning, not long after the master had left for the day’s fishing. Her toes tapped against the mossy roots. “And mayhaps…he’d be my friend.” The scraggly old fir shrugged. Some needles fell and sprinkled her hai...
Wearing a brown tunic with sea blue arm bands and Greek symbols on the shoulders, he looked like a soldier in uniform—but not a uniform she’d seen before. He nodded, then turned to a heavyset, gray-haired man who was seated in the middle of several machines that filled the wide room. ...
asked Kate. “Beats me,” Terry muttered. She ran over to the mainmast. The old man was nowhere to be seen. Picking up a cannonball at her feet, she hefted it like a shot-put. Where had he gone? Her neck stung, her back ached. Yet those things did not trouble her nearly as much as the disappearance...