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pleading evident also in their pain-wracked eyes. Slowly, deliberately, Kelson turned his gaze back to Wencit, his right hand contracting slowly over Wen-tit's heart as he whispered low: a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r 'Then, die, Wencit Obtain release. Fed the cold hand of death at your heart, and the rustle of the death-angel's wings. Thus share you the death of my father Brion. Thus is the heart of Wencit stopped!" At the last word, his fist clenched convulsively, and Wencit froze. Then the proud body of the one-time King of Torenth was but an empty shell, life and intelligence and agony 345 gone. Before the others could react, Kelson moved between Lionel and Bran and this time stretched forth both his hands, one above the heart of each man. "Go with your master and the angel of death, Lionel of Arjenol and Bran Coris, Earl of Marley. And may God, in His infinite wisdom, find you more mercy than 1 have been able to bestow upon you. Be still!" Again, there was the convulsive clench of fists, the jerk of anguished bodies. Then all was still. Slowly Kelson let his hands sink to his sides, to rest heavily against the grass beneath his knees. When he looked up, it was to search three grave faces. As he got to his feet, he drew away from the hand Arilan stretched out to assist him. "Don't, Excellency. It is not fitting that a holy man should touch me. I have just killed, and my hands are bloody." "You had no choice, Kelson," Arilan said quietly, understanding, but lowering his hand just the same. "The men were your enemies. They deserved to die." "Perhaps. But not like this. I would not have had it end this way." Morgan looked down at the toes of his boots. "We are not always masters of our destinies, Kelson. You know that It is sometimes the awful duty of a king that he must kill." "But he is not compelled to like it" Kelson whispered. "It is not something of which he should be proud." "And are you proud?" Duncan asked. "I think not. I have known you too long and too well to believe that of you." "But I'm glad they're dead," Kelson replied. "How do I reconcile that? And at the time, I wanted them to die. I willed it and they died. No man should have that power, Father." "But some men do, Morgan said. "Wencit had it once and used it" "Does that make it right?" "No." There was a long silence in which no one dared to speak, and then Kelson was moving back to Wencit's side. He stared down at the body for a long time, scarcely breathing, then bent slowly to take the crown from Wencit's head. "This is our prize this day, my friends," he said bitterly. "The crown of a kingdom I never wished to rule, the death of a friend I had hardly come to know," he gestured toward Coram's body, "and a legacy of disappointment in myself that there could be no other way." Arilan started to speak, but Kelson held up an imperious hand. "No, I will not hear your comfort just now, Bishop. Allow me the luxury of feeling guilty for what I've had to do. In the realities of the game, I know that this will all too soon seem merely expedient But not today. a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r "No, today I must go out of this circle, with you, my loyal friends, and face the cheers of my people, who will be overjoyed at the Victory* Fve brought them. There I will receive the hollow homage of a child-prince whose father I have killed, give back another fatherless child to a woman whose husband I have slain even though he deserved to die and I will be expected to look as though I am pleased at the entire thing. You will pardon me, gentlemen, if I do not rejoice." He hefted Wencit's crown in his hand and glanced at it dejectedly, then turned to look at them again. "Come, gentlemen, the king plays out his role. The populace is waiting. If my smile of victory occasionally goes a little ragged around the edges, you will know the reason why." And the circle glowed and was dissolved, and the magic fell away. And as the king stepped from the ring, bearing the crown of Torenth in his hands, there arose a great cheering from the army of Gwynedd. And there was a great battering of swords and spears against shields to show their approval, and a thundering of horses' hooves as the king's men came riding out to meet him. And the four Deryni who had watched laid their white and golden mantles upon the shoulders of the victors, that the words of the scripture might be fulfilled. And the friends of the king placed him upon a white horse, that he might be better seen as he rode to the men of Torenth's lines to claim his victory. But the crown lay heavily that day upon the Heir of Haldane. In the following appendices, Roman numerals within brackets indicate that the person appeared in the volume indicated. A Roman numeral in parentheses indicates that the person was only mentioned in passing, and never made a physical appearance. References to the volumes are as follows: Book I DERYNI RISING Book n DERYNI CHECKMATE Book in HIGH DERYNI APPENDIX I CHRONICLES OF THE DERYNI INDEX OF CHARACTERS AGNES, Lady lady-in-waiting to Queen Jehana [JJ. ALAIN Morgan's alias at Saint Torin's [II, (III)]. ALARIC see MORGAN. ALROY, Prince eldest son of Duke Lionel, age 12, and heir of Torenth [IE]. ALYCE de Corwyn de Morgan, Lady mother of Morgan and Bronwyn, full Deryni [(II)]. ANDREW helmsman aboard Morgan's ship Rha- fallia; took slow poison before trying to assassinate Morgan [II]. ANSELM, Father former chaplain to Morgan's mother, the Lady Alyce; now associated with the parish church of Saint Teilo in Culdi [11]. ARILAN, Bishop Denis Auxiliary Bishop of Rhemuth; full Deryni [I, II, TO}. BANNER, John Derry's alias at the Jack Dog Tavern in Fathane [II]. BARRETT de Laney Coadjutor of the Camberian Council; full Deryni [in]. BETHANE witch-woman in the Culdi hills fll]. BENNETT one of Bran Coris's sergeants [III]. BRADENE, Bishop Bishop of Grecotha; a famed a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r scholar; remained neutral in the Interdict schism at Dhassa [II, HIJ. BRAN Coris, Lord Earl of Marley [I, (II), IH]. 349 BRENDAN, Lord 4-year-old son of Bran Coris [in]. BRION Donal Cinhil Urien Haldane late King of Gwynedd and father of Kelson; slain by Charissa's [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |