Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [124]
"And Sauk?" said Berun. "Why spare him and the others?"
The half-elf smiled. "Truthfully? I like Sauk. Make no mistake, he's a bloodthirsty killer, but if there is malice in his soul I have never found it. He does not prey upon the weak. To do so would be the gravest sin, in his mind. To him, glory is hunting and killing those stronger than him. In our new world, we will need hearts like his."
"New world?" Lewan looked to his master, hoping for an answer, for guidance of any sort, but he saw nothing.
"Yes, my son," said the half-elf, and he laid a hand on Lewan's shoulder.
Something in the half-elf's touch made Lewan want to pull away. It reminded him of the time out on the steppe when he and his master had made their camp too close to an old hill that housed a colony of snakes. Lewan had woken with one in his blankets.
"And here we come to the reason I have summoned you," said the half-elf. "I intend for the two of you to rule by my side. We are about to see the birth of a glorious new world, a world free of the corruption of civilization, where the peoples of Faerыn live in harmony with their world. Tell me, Lewan. The night after your vigil, you dreamed, did you not? Tell us of your dream."
"What?"said Lewan, and his breath caught in his throat. How could Chereth know? If he knew of the dream, then he also knew of Lewan's mother… and how she had died. Had he told Berun?
"Long ago my own master taught me the art of communicating through dreams," said Chereth. "It is not something I have forgotten. I was able to contact you, Berun, that night in the Khopet Dag, yes? And you, Lewan, on the night after your vigil. I was able to send you a vision of my goal. You saw the mountain, did you not? Sentinelspire?"
"I… I did, master," said Lewan. "I saw Sentinelspire. But not from here, from the Fortress. It was as if I saw it from a great height. Like… like an eagle might see it, far up in the clouds."
"Yes," said Chereth. "Yes, that was it! Now, Lewan. Now is the time we spoke of on the mountain. I told you I would need your witness, your word. It is time to give it, my son. Tell your master what you saw. Tell him everything."
Lewan closed his eyes, trying to recall every detail of the dream. It had been so strange, yet so vivid, and as he searched his mind the memories came back easily.
"I saw the mountain… fall. It just collapsed, like a tent whose pole snaps. Much of it was still falling when it all exploded. For an instant, I saw fire in the center of it, white-hot like the sun, then rocks, dirt, ash, and fire… so much fire… spreading outward. Spreading and spreading. It didn't slow. Miles and miles, almost like the ripples of a pond. And then… then the darkness and fire filled everything.
"But then I could see again. I was still up above the world-but higher than any eagle. Higher even than a dragon could fly, I think. Hundreds of miles stretched out under me. I could see the edge of the world curving away into blue sky and black night. But below me-far, far below-I could see the smoke and ash from the mountain. It spread over hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, the wind carrying it far. It spread like… like a brown haze over the world, and then… then I was back down, closer to the land. I could see forests covered in ash. Rivers turned to mud and sooty muck. Fish died in the streams, animals on the land. Summer did not come. Beasts and men starved. Disease crippled entire cities. Entire realms burned as kings made war on their neighbors for food and unpoisoned fields. Then the armies turned on one another.
"Seasons passed. Winds and rains cleansed