Zandru's Forge (the Clingfire Trilogy, Volume 2)
Chapter One
The great red sun of Darkover slanted across the courtyard at the entrance
to Arilinn Tower on a morning in early autumn. Polished granite
interspersed with translucent blue stone formed the floor and two walls.
They were shaped and pieced together so artfully that not a blade of grass
or tendril of ivy rooted there. Rising sharply, the walls framed a canyon
where the chill of the night lingered. At the far end, the graceful sweep
of arch enclosed the rainbow-hued Veil through which only those of pure
Comyn blood, the caste of Darkovan aristocracy Gifted with psychic powers,
could pass. In the dawn's oblique light, the Veil resembled a waterfall
of coruscating rainbow colors.
When he'd crept into the courtyard in the darkest hour of the night,
Varzil Ridenow had not dared to approach the Veil too closely. Even here,
in this corner where he'd curled up to doze fitfully until dawn, he felt its
power dancing along his nerves.
If there had been any other way ...
The words echoed in his mind like the refrain of a ballad. He was a
Ridenow and he had the gift ... read full excerpt from: Zandru's Forge ebook
