Doom of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [0]
Joram couldn’t move his arms. Mosiah had him pinned tightly and was staring into his face with a cold smile, the tomb’s light glittering in his blue eyes. “Mosiah!” Joram said angrily, fear rising in him, making him grow cold as stone. The arms tightened around him, squeezing him with a clasp he knew was magic. Joram squirmed, trying to reach the Darksword, but his body was fast losing all strength. He was caught in a spell!
And then it became a struggle not for the sword, but for life—a struggle to breathe. He gasped for air, staring into Mosiah’s face, not understanding. Somewhere he heard a scream, a woman’s scream that was cut off swiftly and skillfully. The darkness of the Grove was rapidly creeping over his eyes. Death was very near, and he ceased to fight, welcoming an end to the pain.
The face of Mosiah smiled and spoke a word, and then Mosiah’s face was gone. Joram looked up and saw the white skin and expressionless face of a black-robed woman, who caught him in her arms as he fell.
Gently she lowered him to the ground. As his senses slowly slipped from him, he heard her issue a warning to a dimly seen companion.
“Don’t touch the sword.”
Bantam Spectra Books
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
THE DARKSWORD SERIES
Forging the Darksword
Doom of the Darksword
Triumph of the Darksword
Legacy of the Darksword
THE DEATH GATE CYCLE
Dragon Wing
Elven Star
Fire Sea
Serpent Mage
The Hand of Chaos
Into the Labyrinth
The Seventh Gate
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Map
Reprise
Book One
Chapter 1 - The Summons
Chapter 2 - A State of Grace
Chapter 3 - Stain Removal
Chapter 4 - Waiting
Chapter 5 - Lying in a Manger
Chapter 6 - Ambushed!
Chapter 7 - The Outland
Chapter 8 - The Glade
Chapter 9 - Caught!
Chapter 10 - His Grace
Chapter 11 - Joram
Chapter 12 - The Fencing Master
Chapter 13 - Winter Night
Chapter 14 - The Parting
Interlude
Book Two
Chapter 1 - Gwendolyn
Chapter 2 - Welcome Home, Simkin
Chapter 3 - The Guildmaster’s Home
Chapter 4 - A Falling Star
Chapter 5 - Threads of the Web
Chapter 6 - The Garden
Chapter 7 - The Killing Frost
Chapter 8 - In the Night
Chapter 9 - In the Morning
Chapter 10 - The Grove of Merlyn
Chapter 11 - On the Run
Postlude
Book Three
Chapter 1 - Among the Clouds
Chapter 2 - The Nine Levels of Life
Chapter 3 - The Hall of Majesty
Chapter 4 - The Champagne Fountain
Chapter 5 - Child of Stone
Chapter 6 - Here’s to Folly
Chapter 7 - The Latest in Fashion Trends
Chapter 8 - The Illusion of a Thousand Mosiahs
Chapter 9 - Adjudication
Chapter 10 - The Prince of Merilon
Chapter 11 - The Truth Shall Make You Free
Chapter 12 - Obedire Est Vivere
Chapter 13 - The Borderland
Chapter 14 - The Doom of the Darksword
Coda
About the Authors
Copyright
Reprise
There was no dinner party at Bishop Vanya’s this night.
“His Holiness is indisposed,” was the message the Ariels carried to those who had been invited. This included the Emperor’s brother-in-law, Prince Xavier, whose number of invitations to dine at the Font were increasing proportionately with the declining health of his sister. Everyone had been most gracious and extremely concerned about the Bishop’s welfare. The Emperor had even offered his own personal Theldara to the Bishop, but this was respectfully declined.
Vanya dined alone, and so preoccupied was the Bishop that he might have been eating sausages along with his Field Catalysts instead of the delicacies of peacocks tongue and lizard’s tail which he barely tasted and never noticed were underdone.
Having finished and sent away the tray, he sipped a brandy and composed himself to wait until the tiny moon in the timeglass upon his desk had risen to its zenith. The waiting was difficult, but Vanya’s mind was so occupied that he found the time sliding past more rapidly than he had expected. The pudgy fingers crawled increasingly along the arms of the chair, touching this strand of mental web and that, seeing if any needed strengthening or repair,