Kathleen O'Neal Gear - It Wakes in Me
VIP免费
2024-12-19
0
0
1.22MB
164 页
5.9玖币
侵权投诉
A SHIMMERING DUST OF RADIANCE, FAINT VOICES, A FLOATING sensation… but that's
all.
I can't feel my heart beating. My lungs don't seem to be moving air.
Where is my body?
For a time, I allow myself to ride the waves of light while I search for my hands, my legs… my face.
Nothing.
I am gone. The world has vanished, and along with it, everyone and everything I have ever loved.
An ugly, high-pitched voice whispers, "You killed my father… I hate you… Mother hates you… You
deserve to die. …"
Grief shivers the brilliance, and it turns white-hot, blinding. Who is that? I don't recognize the voice.
Imustbe dreaming .
The dazzling ocean washes around and through me, but it has no warmth, no feel on my skin.
Maybe I am dead.
Is this what it feels like when the reflection-soul, the soul that travels to the afterlife, slips out with the last
breath and hangs in the air around the body?
Somewhere deep inside me, a silent scream rises.
How did I die?
Was I sick? WasBlackbirdTown attacked?
I remember being afraid that we were going to be attacked, that war was about to break out.
But with whom?
Words again. Very soft. The deep voice comforts me. It… it sounds likeFlint . But that can't be. I have
a vague memory that he, too, is dead. Blessed gods, maybe he's come to lead me along the treacherous
trail that leads to the afterlife.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
According to the tradition of the Black Falcon People, each person has three souls: the eye-soul stays
with the body forever, but at death the shadow-soul and the reflection-soul slip out together. All the evil
leaches into the shadow-soul, leaving the reflection-soul pure and clean, fit to live among the Blessed
Ancestors in the Land of the Dead. Usually the evil shadow-soul dissipates into the air, but on rare
occasions it sneaks into a passerby and uses the body of the living person to commit hideous crimes.
… Perhaps I am dead and this is my eye-soul?
Is this all I am now? A nothingness that dwells in rotting bones forever?
Anger flickers.
Why didn't anyone tell me it would be like this—this strange disembodied floating sensation?
What am I supposed to do now?
Old Priest Teal once told me that at death the reflection-soul has to make a decision. It can either go
directly to the Land of the Dead, or spend ten days speaking with loved ones, saying the last things that
need to be said.
Perhaps that's where I am? Suspended between decisions? Blessed gods, I hope so.
As if in answer, the radiance shifts, twisting into a shining path that seems to lead upward.
I climb, or think I do.
The path becomes clearer, crystallizing into a vast spiraling blanket of stars.
… The voices are louder.
Confusion fills me, rapidly followed by fear.
IfFlint has come to lead me to the afterlife, I know I can fight the monsters that inhabit the dark
underworld forests, but what if my reflection-soul is entering the living world again?
Perhaps this is my last chance to tell people how much I love them. It takes every bit of my strength, but
I manage to open my eyes for a single heartbeat.
… Log roof beams… flame shadows on the walls…
As the hazy council chamber comes into focus, terror floods my veins.
He stands three paces away with his long black cape swaying around him like midnight wings. His face is
darkness.
From somewhere far away, I hear a great voice like raging water whisper, "Seven. She has killed seven
people, and Chief Blue Bow's murder may start the worst war the Black Falcon Nation has ever known.
We must do something. …"
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Chapter Two
VEILS OF RAIN SWEPT THE DARK FOREST, DRENCHING WAR Chief Feather Dancer where
he stood guard outside the front entrance to the Matron's House. Pie drew his buckskin cape more
tightly around his shoulders. A tall, muscular man, he could feel the scars on his face pull tight when he
frowned out atBlackbirdTown .
The enormous earthen mounds of the rulers, each five to six times the height of a man, rose from the
forest like unnatural hills. Atop them, the massive log buildings were dark. Quiet. The only light came
from the door curtain to his left. Inside, he could hear Matron Wink, Priest Teal, and the loathsome
outsider namedFlint talking. He couldn't make out their words, but he heard the strain in their voices.
"What'sFlint talking you into now, Matron?" he murmured to himself. "The destruction of the entire Black
Falcon Nation?"
Feather Dancer's stomach muscles clenched. He longed for nothing more than to get his hands
aroundFlint 's lying throat.
For fourteen wintersFlint had been married to High Chieftess Sora. When he'd divorced her three
winters ago and gone home to his own people inOakLeafVillage , it had broken the chieftess' heart, but
she'd remarried and was getting on with her life. Then, ten days ago,Flint had secretly returned
toBlackbirdTown , with his best friend War Chief Skinner, and thrown the entire nation into an uproar.
War Chief Skinner had been murdered and Chieftess Sora accused of the crime. At this very moment,
the Chieftess lay on a litter inside the Matron's House drifting in and out of fevered dreams brought on by
the Spirit Plant Flint had forced her to drink to keep her asleep while the Matron decided what to do.
Feather Dancer expelled a gruff sigh.Flint had talked everyone, including Matron Wink, into believing
that the chieftess was a murderer.
As he stood there gazing into the rain, his shadow-soul drifted, remembering everything that had
happened in the past three hands of time…
He and the Matron's son, Long Fin, had been dispatched around midnight to meet an enemy war party,
led by Chief Blue Bow of the Loon Nation. The old chief had supposedly come to discuss a Trade: he
was holding eleven men, women, and children fromOakLeafVillage hostage. He would release them if
Chieftess Sora and Matron Wink would agree to send warriors south to steal a beautiful green stone
called jade from the southern barbarians. Around two hands of time past midnight, they'd seen the war
party approaching through the forest.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Blue Bow had bravely marched out in front, followed by his war chief, Grown Bear, and twenty
warriors. Blue Bow was a bald, frail old man, but he wore his massive copper breastplate as though it
weighed no more than a milkweed seed.
Feather Dancer had called, "I recognize you, Chief Blue Bow. You are welcome in the Black Falcon
Nation. Matron Wink asked us to escort you safely intoBlackbirdTown . Do not be alarmed when our
warriors come out of the trees. They are here to protect you." He'd lifted his hand, and men filtered
through the dark oak trunks to surround the Loon party.
Blue Bow's old eyes had narrowed. "To protect us from whom, War Chief? If your matron welcomes
us—"
Long Fin had called, "Do all the Loon clans agree on political decisions, Chief?"
Blue Bow's grizzled brows had lowered. "No. They do not. Which clans oppose my presence in the
Black Falcon Nation? I would know so that I might prepare myself for their treachery."
Long Fin had answered, "No one has openly opposed your visit, but my mother is cautious. She truly
wishes to keep you from harm."
"I appreciate that." Blue Bow had turned to his war chief and added, "Grown Bear, I wish to speak with
Long Fin alone. Please follow twenty paces behind us."
"But my chief!" Grown Bear had objected. "That is too risky. They may be plotting—"
"I will take that chance. Do as I say."
Grown Bear had murmured something unpleasant and backed away.
Blue Bow came forward and looked up at Feather Dancer with starlit eyes. "Let me walk out front with
Long Fin for a time, War Chief."
"As you wish."
He'd heard Blue Bow ask Long Fin, "Is it true that Chieftess Sora has offered her life to Matron Sea
Grass to compensate her for the loss of her son, War Chief Skinner?"
"It is."
Blue Bow had shaken his head. "It saddens me to hear of it. These sorts of things make political
negotiations much more difficult."
"I'm sure the chieftess will put her own personal concerns aside during her time with you."
"Yes, I'm sure she'll try, but when one's life is at stake it's impossible to concentrate fully on difficult
negotiations, don't you agree?"
"I am just the matron's son. Trade agreements are not my expertise. I do not even understand why this
green stone is so important to possess." of time, Long Fin had talked of little else. He wanted the stone
badly. What was the youth up to? Had he worked this out with Matron Wink?
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Obviously confused, Blue Bow had asked, "What green stone?"
Long Fin frowned. "The jade." When Blue Bow's expression didn't change, Long Fin clarified, "The jade
brooch you sent to Chieftess Sora."
The warriors following twenty paces behind had muttered among themselves, probably exchanging
insults, as enemy warriors did. Someone chuckled, and another man growled a response.
Blue Bow's sunken face contorted. "I didn't send her any brooch. What are you talking about?"
"You sent your war chief to Chieftess Sora with a brooch—"
"It was her broken promise that forced me to send Grown Bear to your chieftess. There was no
brooch."
Clearly taken aback, Long Fin had said, "Explain."
A twig had cracked behind Feather Dancer, and he'd heard the soft hiss of a lance cutting the air.
"Gel down!" Feather Dancer had shoved Long Fin aside.
Blue Bow staggered, gasped, "No, dear gods!" and toppled to the ground.
Warriors had raced forward to surround them. Copper-studded war clubs glinted like torches as they
waved in the starlight.
Feather Dancer had dropped to his knees to examine Blue Bow, and hot blood spurted over his chest.
Blue Bow writhed on the ground, clutching his throat, trying to clamp the artery shut.
"How bad is it?" Blue Bow screamed.
The chunkey lance had lodged below his left ear, neatly firing the big vein in his throat. They couldn't pull
the lance out or it would make things worse. The chief's life had drained away onto the forest floor with
stunning rapidity. Through gritted teeth Grown Bear repeated, "Who did this?"
Long Fin had gestured to their warriors. "Follow me. We must find the chief's killer!"
His men instantly obeyed, lunging into the trees behind Long Fin, their war clubs up and ready.
Grown Bear had shouted to his party, "Go with them! See that the killer is brought to me unharmed. I
must question him!"
Several terrible heartbeats later Long Fin cried, "Quickly! Someone help me!"
A cacophony of voices had erupted as warriors raced to his location from every part of the forest.
Feather Dancer leaped over Blue Bow and ran. Through the weave of tree trunks, he saw Long Fin
kneeling near a body that lay at the edge of a starlit meadow.
"Who is it?" Feather Dancer called. "Do you recognize him?"
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Long Fin answered, "It's Far Eye!"
Feather Dancer and at least ten warriors converged on the scene at the same time. He had to shoulder
through the crowd to get to the body.
Far Eye, Matron Wink's nephew, lay on his back staring up at the night sky.
A pool of blood spread around his crushed skull. It had looked black and shiny in the starlight.
Feather Dancer and Long Fin had immediately run back to notify the matron, and she'd ordered Feather
Dancer to get the chieftess out of bed.
But she hadn't been in bed, or even inBlackbirdTown . Fearing for her life, Feather Dancer had taken a
war party out to search the forest. Two hands of time later, she'd come in from the forest, covered with
blood, and claimed she could remember nothing.Flint had convinced Matron Wink that the chieftess had
murdered both Blue Bow and Far Eye. Matron Wink, desperate and frightened, had immediately set up
aHealing Circle for their chieftess.
… Feather Dancer was jerked from his memories by a faint glimmer. Out on the lake.
He sucked in a breath, and his hand dropped to the war club tied to his belt as he scanned the
shimmering expanse ofPersimmonLake . Was this it? Had the Loon People rallied their forces and come
to take revenge for the murder of their chief? Surely the Loon Nation could not have gathered enough
warriors this quickly?
He squinted at the commoners' houses that lined the shore. The bones on the roofs gleamed. No one
allowed the bones of the animals they'd caught in traps or snares to touch the ground. It was
disrespectful. Instead, they placed the bones on their roofs, where the souls of the animals could keep
watch for their new bodies. If animals were killed correctly, with reverence, death was only a temporary
thing. Within a few days, Skyholder, the Creator, would send a new body, identical to the old one, and
the soul would rise up from the bones and resume its life.
The flash came again, this time longer, and he knew it was not a warrior's signal.
The owl fluttered, then soared down across the water, hunting. Its wings shone in the diffused light of
Sister Moon that penetrated the Cloud People.
Feather Dancer sank back against the log wall and let out the breath he'd unwittingly been holding.
After a night of cries and running feet, the townspeople had finally settled into their blankets, leaving an
odd stillness in possession of the world. Every sound, every glimmer that might be a raised weapon,
caught his attention.
"Sleep, you fools," he whispered. "I thank the gods you have no idea what's going on. I wish I didn't."
As though to mock him, Priest Teal's hoarse old voice seeped from the leather door curtain: "Flinttells
me you have chosen Long Lance to Heal her. What if he refuses?"
"We must offer him so much that he cannot refuse," Matron Wink answered.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Wealth is of little concern to an old man, Matron. He will be far more worried about the consequences
if he fails."
"What do you mean?"
Teal's voice rasped: "Well, he knows he must succeed. She is the high chieftess of the Black Falcon
Nation. That means he has to use every Spirit Plant and technique he knows to try to Heal her. Do you
understand?"
Matron Wink hesitated for several long heartbeats before she said in anguish, "Yes, I understand."
Feather Dancer clamped his jaw. So… the matron had chosen the legendary witch Long Lance as the
chieftess' next Healer.
Footsteps suddenly padded down the hallway inside, and Feather Dancer straightened. He knew the
sound of the matron's steps as well as his own.
As the wind gusted, yellow light spread across the mound top, strengthening the shadows of the trees
that lay like dead arms across the wet ground.
Matron Wink pulled the curtain aside, stepped out, and anxiously smoothed her hands up and down her
purple sleeves. The seed-beads that covered her bodice shimmered. Was she shaking? She'd piled her
graying black hair on top of her head and secured it with a polished shell comb. It, too, glimmered.
Quietly, she ordered, "Come inside, War Chief."
"Yes, Matron."
Feather Dancer followed her down the torch lit ha!! and into the council chamber. Twenty paces across,
the room's only adornments were the twelve sacred masks on the walls and the four log benches that
framed the fire hearth. The masks represented the divine beings that watched over the Black Falcon
People. The empty eye sockets, long fur fringes, and gaping beaks sent a prickle up his spine. They
seemed to be watching him with a predator's intensity.
He stopped five paces from the fire, and Matron Wink walked back to stand between Priest Teal
andFlint .
Teal whispered something he couldn't hear. The little bald elder resembled a walking skeleton. His
white-filmed eyes might have been frozen lakes.
"No," Matron Wink whispered.
Feather Dancer wished she would just make the decision, give him his orders, and allow him to go back
to his duties.BlackbirdTown was in danger. She didn't need him here. He needed to check on the guards
he'd posted and make certain they were still alive.
"We can't wait until morning," Matron Wink said, barely audible. "Flintmust leave now. There's no time
to waste."
NeitherFlint nor Priest Teal responded. They both just stared at her.Flint , a tall handsome man, had a
perfectly chiseled face and large black eyes. His cape was a splash of darkness in the firelight.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
It set Feather Dancer's teeth on edge.
The Black Falcon People loved colors, the brighter the better. The fact thatFlint chose garments that
blended with the shadows made Feather Dancer distrust him even more. It was as though the man
deliberately sought to set himself apart from the rest of the people—just as witches did.
To stifle his raging emotions, Feather Dancer turned to study the beautiful woman lying on the litter
beside the fire. Long black hair haloed Chieftess Sora's pale face. Her blankets the color of bloodred
earth, had been woven from the finest buffalo wool and dyed with dog-tail weed. Her fingers jerked,
grasping at something no one else could see. Feather Dancer feared that her shadow-soul—the soul that
walked in dreams—was traveling through a terrifying land.
Priest Teal had tried to Heal her, but she'd kept denying the murders, and Teal had been forced to
declare theHealing Circle a failure. Apparently no one, except perhaps Feather Dancer, believed her
when she said she was innocent.
Chieftess Sora made a soft pained sound. Tears leaked from her eyes and dropped onto her red
blankets like perfect dew-drops.
Matron Wink said, "She probably heard us talking about Long Lance."
Flintswiftly walked across the floor and knelt at the chieftess' side. His cape draped around him in
sculpted raven folds. As he gently brushed the tears from her cheeks, he said, "Don't cry, Sora. He won't
fail. I won't let him."
Matron Wink pressed her fingers to her lips as though to keep her own cries locked in her throat. In a
shaking voice, she whispered, "Dear gods, I've betrayed her. I've betrayed her."
The chieftess' mouth opened in what might have been a silent cry; then she laughed.
Perhaps it was the resemblance to a sob, or the rage that lived inside the laughter, but the room went
deathly quiet.
"No,"Flint answered. "You're trying to save her life—and the thing she cherishes most, her people."
Feather Dancer shifted irritably. Dawn was not far away. If Matron Wink wantedFlint to take the
chieftess to Long Lance, then hedid need to go, quickly. The trip was risky at best, andFlint had already
lost the cover of darkness.
"War Chief?"
"Yes, Matron," Feather Dancer squared his shoulders, glad that he was finally going to be dismissed.
"I want you to accompanyFlint . Do whatever he says. Do you understand?"
"But, Matron…" Feather Dancer felt like he'd been bludgeoned. "We may be attacked at any moment.
You need me here inBlackbirdTown ! You can't send me away on a Healing mission when the lives of
our people are in danger."
She marched across the floor and gave him a hard look. "You're the only one I can trust to make certain
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
摘要：
展开>>
收起<<
ItWakesinMe ByKathleenO'NealGear GeneratedbyABCAmberLITConverter,http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html ChapterOneGeneratedbyABCAmberLITConverter,http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html ASHIMMERINGDUSTOFRADIANCE,FAINTVOICES,AFLOATINGsensation…butthat'sall.Ican'tfeelmyheartbeating.Mylungsdon'tseem...
声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！
相关推荐
-
《发电厂电气部分》(第四版)07-配电装置VIP免费
2024-12-10 40 -
《发电厂电气部分》(第四版)04-04-限制短路电流的方法VIP免费
2024-12-10 71 -
《协议出让国有土地使用权规范》VIP免费
2024-12-26 151 -
《圣经研究-耶利米哀歌》VIP免费
2024-12-26 266 -
《摩根-路加福音》VIP免费
2024-12-26 160 -
《马太亨利圣经注释约翰福音注释》VIP免费
2024-12-26 185 -
高达—行政事业单位内部控制规范解读3.0（99页）VIP免费
2025-08-09 157 -
2024年度行政事业单位内部控制报告编报指标讲解VIP免费
2025-08-09 36 -
TBT3239-2010 铁路用微合金化钢魏氏组织金相检验图谱
2025-08-18 2 -
TBT3238-2010 动车组牵引电动机技术条件
2025-08-18 2
分类：外语学习
价格：5.9玖币
属性：164 页
大小：1.22MB
格式：PDF
时间：2024-12-19
作者详情
相关内容
-
TBT3243-2010 铁路真空卸污系统卸污单元技术条件
分类：
时间：2025-08-18
标签：无
格式：PDF
价格：10 玖币
-
TBT3242-2010 LED铁路信号机构通用技术条件
分类：
时间：2025-08-18
标签：无
格式：PDF
价格：10 玖币
-
TBT3241-2010 移动式焊轨车
分类：
时间：2025-08-18
标签：无
格式：PDF
价格：10 玖币
-
TBT3239-2010 铁路用微合金化钢魏氏组织金相检验图谱
分类：
时间：2025-08-18
标签：无
格式：PDF
价格：10 玖币
-
TBT3238-2010 动车组牵引电动机技术条件
分类：
时间：2025-08-18
标签：无
格式：PDF
价格：10 玖币
渝公网安备50010702506394
