Doom of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [193]
Find Alfred! Haplo had told her. But he couldn’t know how great the odds were against them. And now Haplo was gone, perhaps dead. And Lord Xar was gone, too.
Her lord, her liege lord. Marit put her hand to her forehead. The sigil he had tattooed on her skin, the sigil that had been a sign of her love and trust, burned with a dull and aching pain. Xar had betrayed her. Worse, it seemed he had betrayed his people.
He was powerful enough to withstand the onslaught of evil beings. His presence would inspire his people, his magic and his cunning give them a chance for victory.
But Xar had turned his back on them …
“He left us to fend for themselves. He … would not do such a thing! No, I can’t believe it,” Marit said to herself. “He left … took Haplo with him … to heal him! Yes, that is it. My lord will heal Haplo and then they will both come back to fight with us!”
It was logical, now that she considered it. Xar had removed Haplo to a place of safety. Meanwhile, her task was to find Alfred. With all of them there, at the Final Gate, nothing could withstand them!
Shaking back the wet hair out of her eyes, Marit resolutely put everything out of her mind except the immediate problem. She’d forgotten an important lesson. Never look too far ahead. What you see could be a mirage. Keep your eyes on the trail on the ground.
And there it was. The sign.
Marit cursed herself. She’d been so preoccupied, she had almost missed what she’d been searching for. Kneeling down, she carefully picked up an object, held it out for Hugh the Hand to see.
It was a green, glittering scale. One of several scales—green and gold—lying on the ground.
Surrounding it were large dollops of fresh blood.
This concludes our special preview of
The Seventh Gate, available now
wherever Bantam Books are sold.
1 Directions in the Labyrinth are based on the “gates,” those markers which indicate how far one has progressed through the Labyrinth. The first gate is the Vortex. The city of Abri is between the first and second gates. Since the Labyrinth’s innumerable gates are scattered around randomly, directions are based on where one is at the time in relation to the next gate.
DOOM OF THE DARKSWORD
A Bantam Spectra Book / May 1988
Chapter art by Valerie A. Valusek
Front matter map by Stephen D. Sullivan
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1988 by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-43307-7
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