Holly Lisle World Gates 03 Gods Old And Dark

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space. He reached in and started pulling things out and handing them to Heyr.
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These are good all automatic, unlimited ammo, nonjam mechanisms. Combination
spelled and mundane projectiles: No matter what the keth are carrying,
something in here is bound to get through. Shields slap em on your people so
they ll have some protection from the incoming. I don t have any idea what the
keth are fighting with these days last I heard the biggest batch of them was
eight worlds down He paused while he fought something big and bulky through
the gate, twisting it at the last minute to make it fit and backing up so that
this acquisition dropped onto the wood floor with a heavy thunk. Heyr could
hear the wood floor cracking beneath it. And I didn t think any of them ever
came here anymore.
That was Loki. Nothing shut him up.
Until now, they haven t had a reason.
Live magic. Loki turned and studied the Sentinels, and looked at Heyr with
the disbelief clear on his face. By nearsighted Odin, Thor, you used to be
able to pick heroes. What the hell are you doing here? Scrawny men and little
girls and old ladies!
They re Sentinels, Heyr said.
They could be town criers for all I care and they d still His expression
changed; an eyebrow flicked up and down fractionally, the eyes narrowed the
tiniest bit. Sentinels-capital-S?
Yes.
Which explains why the maiden aunties over there didn t faint dead away when
I came through the gate. Hello, ladies, he said. We boys need to go kill
keth now, but I ll bed any of you Thor hasn t gotten to once we get back, and
those of you he has that he left disappointed. He grinned.
Heyr rammed Loki in the ribs.
Whaaaaat? Loki turned to him.
In a whisper, Heyr said, I just got here yesterday.
Loki s smile turned wicked. You just got here& so the whole field is ripe for
the plowing? he whispered back. In my friend s defense, he said loudly,
I ll point out that it isn t the size of a man s hammer that matters, but
what he does with it. Then he picked up a handful of weapons and shields, and
started distributing them.
Heyr muttered, That line wasn t funny in Asgard.
Loki laughed. You never thought so, anyway.
One of the old women stepped up to Loki and said, We re fighting, too.
Loki laughed.
She insisted. We ve fought before. Recently. A lot of our people died, but
not us. We know how to use weapons like these we ve used them downworld. We
won t run.
Heyr liked her. She would have made a good Valkyrie if she were younger, he
thought.
Loki seemed less impressed. But he handed the woman a shield and a weapon, and
watched, amusement plain on his face, as she slipped into the shield harness
like a veteran. Heyr watched her, too, with less cynicism. The older ones
might not be as useless as they d looked. Jury was still out on the younger
ones.
They armed quickly, and Loki said to Heyr, Where are Tanngr�snir and
Tanngnjóstr? We re going to need them to carry the big stuff.
Heyr whistled, and from far off heard the great goats bellow a reply.
Disguised as his pickup truck, they would meet him in the parking lot. He and
Loki grabbed the heavy box, the Sentinels picked up their weapons, and
everyone headed out the door. The gate stood unguarded, but the Sentinel whose
watch it had been did close the gate by tossing a pebble through it before
jogging down the steps after the rest of them.
Heyr s truck spun into the parking lot on its own, spraying gravel everywhere
and skidding to a stop an inch in front of him. He grinned; the goats were
eager, and not too resentful of their current shape.
Everyone in the back, he told them, and the Sentinels complied. He caught
some flashes of fear, and some doubt about this whole mission as well, but
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these were good people led by a good man. They had a feel for what was
important. He knew of battle-hardened warriors who would have stood arguing
with him if presented with the same situation, who would have wasted his time
in questions.
These grim-faced people just settled into the truck bed, weapons in front of
them and pointed up, and watched as he and Loki loaded the big box into the
back with them.
He jumped into the driver s seat, Loki took the passenger seat in the cabin,
and they took off.
What s in the box? Heyr asked.
Something I ve been playing with. I don t know how useful it will be, but I
don t think it will hurt. It s a spell I put together that dampens the energy
waves of dark magic and amplifies the energy waves of live magic.
Heyr glanced over. We won t be using it.
Loki sighed. You have to get over this aversion of yours for progress.
You don t know it s progress. It s untried, right? It could prove to be a
disaster. It could be our undoing.
It could. But it won t. Trust me on this.
Heyr laughed. I cannot trust you, Brother Fox. Trust stands outside the door
of the hall we share, having been beaten to a bloody pulp by your cudgel, and
he will not come inside.
Forget Balder, would you? That was then; this is now. And situations have
changed. I m chained to this damned rock forever; I have a vested interest in
seeing that it survives. For Sigyn, as well as for myself. There are times
when I think I could embrace death readily enough if not for her. But I want
her to have her immortality, and I want to share in it with her even if we
must spend it here. She gave up so much for me. She bears this eternal pain
for me, in spite of being free to leave at any time.
Heyr said, Nonetheless, while we are allies sometimes and friends often
enough, we ll stick with the weapons we know will work.
Ragnarok still stands between us, doesn t it?
Heyr concentrated on locating the keth, searching for them with senses attuned
to their presence and their hunger. He didn t waste much thought on Loki s
question. As long as Asgard is a dead cinder, Ragnarok is not an issue. If
this girl we fight to protect survives to revive Asgard and Jotunheim and
Niflheim and the other upworlds, then things change. Then Ragnarok may yet
come to pass. I know the Midgard Serpent still exists, but he and I will not
again share a world until my hall is restored to me, and the branches and
roots of the world tree do not wither and die.
And yet, I would that you trusted me that you knew we stood on the same
side.
We don t. Or at least, we won t. Not at the end.
They looked at each other, friends who shared a long past and, somewhere very
far off, a dark future.
Heyr added, And if we succeed in stopping these keth if we succeed in
stopping the Night Watch here and eventually holding them off long enough to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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