[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

down into one of the holes, careful to keep a safe distance between him and the edge. Far below,
something dark and indistinct swam listlessly in a sea of blazing magma. It was too far away to tell how
big the thing was, but the slow ponderousness of its movements suggested something unthinkably huge.
Jordan looked quickly away, and hurried to catch up with Sir Gawaine.
'The gateway can't be too far away,' muttered the knight, as much to himself as to Jordan. 'The Unreal
hasn't had time to spread far.'
'How does a gateway come about anyway?' said Jordan. 'They must be pretty rare.'
'They are,' said Sir Gawaine. 'I did some research on the history of the Unreal when I first came to
Castle Midnight. I like to know what I might be up against. As far as I can tell, there have only ever been
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
four major gateways, and they were all the result of High Magic gone bad.'
'High Magic . . .' Jordan scowled unhappily. 'There aren't many people in the Castle with that kind of
power. There's the Steward, of course, but I think we can count her out. There's Roderik, but I don't see
what he could hope to gain by it. And there's Count William, but I think we can count him out for the
same reason. No, Gawaine, there's only one person in this Castle with High Magic who's crazy enough
to do something like this, and that's Dominic.'
'I was wondering how long it would take you to work that out,' said Sir Gawaine. 'That's why we're
going in this direction. Prince Dominic has a set of spare apartments down this way. I'm betting that's
where we'll find him and his gateway.'
A low rumbling began in the gloom at the end of the long corridor. It was quiet at first, like a roll of
faraway thunder, but it grew steadily louder as it drew nearer. Jordan and Gawaine stopped where they
were, and listened. The noise changed from thunder to something that might have been the growling of a
huge beast, and Jordan stirred uneasily. But the sound rumbled on, always gaining in volume, roaring and
churning and splash-ing, and Jordan gradually realised what he was hearing. He looked at Gawaine in
horror, and saw his own shocked under-standing in the knight's face. They looked back at the corridor,
and the great wave of water came boiling down the passage towards them. Dominic had used his water
magic to call up a tsunami, a gigantic tidal wave.
'Run!' screamed Jordan, but Gawaine grabbed him by the arm.
'There isn't time!' he yelled, over the roar of the approaching water. 'Get behind me!'
He planted his feet firmly and held his axe out before him, using both hands to hold it steady. The runes
of the blade glowed brighter than the sun. Jordan crouched behind Gawaine, and wondered how long it
took to die by drowning. He'd only seen the ocean a few times in his life, and he'd never bothered to
learn to swim. He clung forlornly to his sword, and wished he could have made a better showing as
Viktor. Now he'd never know what kind of Prince he'd have made. The great wall of frothing water
came surging down the corridor and slammed against Sir Gawaine, only to break apart as it hit his
glowing axe, and split into two lesser waves that roared by on either side of him. Enough spray and rough
water broke free to drench Gawaine and Jordan to the skin, but they were still able to snatch gulps of air
and hold their ground. The water thundered on and on, breaking around them and beating against the
corridor walls. And then, finally, the level of the water fell
away, and the tsunami was past, its fury spent. Gawaine lowered his axe, and let out a slow sigh of relief.
'That was close. That was as close as it's ever been, and then some. Are you all right, your highness?'
'Fine. I've always wanted to play the part of a drowned rat.' Jordan tried to squeeze some of the water
out of his clothes, and then gave it up as a bad job. 'That's some axe the High Warlock gave you.'
'I've always thought so. We'd better get moving. Calling up that much water must have weakened your
brother considerably, but it won't take him long to recover. His apartments should be just down here.'
Gawaine splashed through the inches-deep water and headed for a closed door up on the right. Jordan
followed him, wondering absently if the water was draining away through the holes in the floor, and if so,
what would happen when all those gallons of water met the blazing magma down below. He decided that
he'd rather not be around when it happened, and increased his pace to draw level with the knight.
Gawaine finally stopped before a door that looked no different from any of the others. He tried the
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
doorknob, and it turned easily in his grasp. Gawaine eased the door open an inch, and let go of the
handle. He looked inquiringly at Jordan, who nodded firmly. Sir Gawaine kicked the door open, and the
two of them charged into Dominic's apartment. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]