Children of the Serpent Gate

Chapter 1

"I'm old." Kiukiu stared in disbelief at her reflection. "I'm an old woman." Her fingertips moved over her lined face, lifting her wild, dry locks of greying hair, searching in vain for a thread of gold. She was so shocked she could only stare at the aging stranger in the mirror glass. "How long was I gone?"

"Many days, my dear." Malusha had never called her "my dear" before. That in itself made Kiukiu fearful. "Too many days."

"There's a remedy, isn't there, Grandma?" She turned to Malusha. "Tell me what to do, I'll do it. No matter what it is."

Malusha sat a moment, thinking. "I'll go put the kettle on," she said, easing herself up from Kiukiu's side. Making tea was Malusha's remedy for all ills, great and small.

"Grandma, what do you know?" Kiukiu persisted.

"I know that you wouldn't be still in this world if Lord Gavril hadn't flown to Swanholm to rescue you."

"Lord Gavril?" The glass dropped from her fingers. She looked up and found herself staring into the deep blue of Gavril's eyes. "You're alive?" She forgot her own distress and just gazed up at him. "But they said you were dead. They showed me the tower, they showed me where the lightning struck--"

And then she realized that he must be able to see every wrinkle, each strand of dull grey hair. She covered her face with her hands, turning away from him, not wanting him to see her like this.

"Kiukiu?" he said. He said her name so gently--and yet she could detect the bewilderment in his tone.

"Don't look at me. Please." This was the reunion she had dreamed of for so long. But in her dreams, she had been unchanged by the Ways Beyond. She had run to greet him, her arms outstretched, her golden hair loose about her shoulders. "That evil old man," she muttered. "He lied to me. He made me think you were dead, and all to trick me into his trap."

"What old man?"

"Kaspar Linnaius. He sent me into the Ways Beyond to look for you. And then, when I couldn't find you, he spun me some foolish story. And I believed him! Why didn't I trust my own instincts?" She was so angry with herself that she began to shake. "Why did I let him use me?"

"So you got lost in the Ways Beyond, searching for me?"

She nodded. Though even as she did so, she was aware that this was not the whole tale. There was more, much more, and she could not remember what it was, only that it made her shudder even more to think of it.

"Don't cry, Kiukiu." He put his arms around her and held her close, stroking her hair.

"I'm not crying!" How could he bear to hold her, to touch those dry, faded locks? Tears spurted, hot against her fingers. She wanted to bury her face in his shoulder and feel safe, comforted and cherished. But all she could think of was the haggard, faded creature she had seen reflected in the mirror.

"It wasn't lightning that struck the Iron Tower, Kiukiu. It was the Drakhaoul."

Her sobs subsided a little. So he also had something to confess.

"I was dying. And it rescued me." His lips hardly moved against her hair, as if he were whispering to prevent the Drakhaoul hearing what he said.

"Dying? So the story was in part true?" She felt another shiver run through her. He had suffered, she could sense it now, and he was not entirely healed. And there was something different, disturbing, about him, almost as if the Drakhaoul had begun to leach its darkness into his soul.

"In part."

"Oh, Gavril," she whispered. One hand, wet with her own tears, crept out to touch his face. What cruel things had they done to him in that asylum? What damage had they See more like this in our Fantasy ebooks section

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From the same series: Tears of Artamon

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Title of ebook: Children of the Serpent Gate
ISBN: 9780553901979
parent-ISBN: 9780553382129
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 09-2005
Released online for download: 09-27-2005
Author of eBook: Ash, Sarah
Series: More eBooks from the Tears of Artamon series
Number in this series: 3

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Children of the Serpent Gate

Chapter One

Chapter 1

"I'm old." Kiukiu stared in disbelief at her reflection. "I'm an old woman." Her fingertips moved over her lined face, lifting her wild, dry locks of greying hair, searching in vain for a thread of gold. She was so shocked she could only stare at the aging stranger in the mirror glass. "How long was I gone?"

"Many days, my dear." Malusha had never called her "my dear" before. That in itself made Kiukiu fearful. "Too many days."

"There's a remedy, isn't there, Grandma?" She turned to Malusha. "Tell me what to do, I'll do it. No matter what it is."

Malusha sat a moment, thinking. "I'll go put the kettle on," she said, easing herself up from Kiukiu's side. Making tea was Malusha's remedy for all ills, great and small.

"Grandma, what do you know?" Kiukiu persisted.

"I know that you wouldn't be still in this world if Lord Gavril hadn't flown to Swanholm to rescue you."

"Lord Gavril?" The glass dropped from her fingers. She looked up and found herself staring into the deep blue of Gavril's eyes. "You're alive?&qu ... read full excerpt from: Children of the Serpent Gate ebook

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Children of the Serpent Gate

Chapter One

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