Clover Autrey Upon Eagle's Light (pdf)

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true-bonded. It will be easier that way." She rubbed her toes
along Hydeia's cheek, then laughed.
Hydeia's pulse banged in her chest as panic threatened to
choke her. She would never summon Tyalan here.
Heedless of her nudity, Lannis stripped off her ragged
tunic, letting it drop in folds to the floor and stepped into a
soft rose-colored gown that Gedard held open for her. As she
tied the cords at the tight-fitting bodice she stared at Hydeia.
"Siphon her reyn. If her eagle is close, that may be alarming
enough to bring her."
"If it doesn't?" the Mystic asked.
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Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
Lannis shrugged. "We won't let her be a complete loss. I'll
enjoy her reyn regardless."
The two Queenswatch hauled Hydeia to her knees and held
her there by her arms. Their hands dug into her flesh. Earon
whispered close to her ear, "This is my favorite part. I'm glad
you didn't cooperate."
Unable to move, her head flopped forward to her chest.
Her hair spilled around her face like a veil. All she could see
were the men's boots to each side and parts of the
floorboards between layers of rushes. Calloused hands moved
her hair off her neck then she became aware of a prickling
streak of coldness, like a thin shard of ice, moving from her
neck down her spine. Her skin tingled in gooseflesh.
She wanted to arch her back, get away from the sensation.
Instead she hung limply. She could not even scream.
Warmth flooded through her, comforting reyn. She
clutched at it, held it to her, determined that whatever they
were doing to her, she would not allow them to force her to
call out for Tyalan.
Yet her reyn did not flow outward, seeking its bonded. It
remained inside, building, swirling through her, then
compressed into a tight spiral. Like a heated auger, it
burrowed through her insides until heat met ice across her
spine and her reyn was drawn up and away through the back
of her neck in a merciless stream.
The scream she could not utter exploded behind her eyes.
Her entire insides clenched as she hung loose.
Her thumb and forefinger curled ... ever so slightly.
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Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
Her heart pounded with relief. The paralyzing dust the
Mystic had thrown at her was not permanent. It was wearing
off but not soon enough.
She felt her reyn being sucked away through the cold tube,
leaving her light-headed and weak. The floor grew hazy,
seemed to rise up toward her.
Tyalan shrieked in her head. Close. She was so very
dangerously close.
No! Tyalan go back! It's a trap! Please, please go back.
Dear brother sun, make her go back!
Hydeia tried to close her out from their bond, but Tyalan
wouldn't let her. The eagle's strength filled her with worry and
anger.
Reyn's heat flooded back into her, pulled by Tyalan's fury
and strength. As hard as Hydeia tried to break away from her,
Tyalan clamped down. Ruthless and determined, the eagle
pulled Hydeia's essence to her. All at once Hydeia felt the
wind rushing through feathers, the lift of wing and tail as
Tyalan banked above the city and coasted through an open
arched window.
Hydeia saw herself through the eagle's eyes, hunched over
between the two Queenswatch. She saw Lannis and the
Mystic look up in surprise.
"Oh my, shreds! The eagle has come already. Get the net!"
Lannis shrieked as though from a vast distance as Tyalan's
talons raked across Gedard's face.
Hydeia felt him jerk away, felt herself fall at the same
instant Tyalan's view filled with flesh and blood and hair then
turned upward as she soared around the room.
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Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
A large net flapped in the air, fell like a cloud. Tyalan
turned sharply. Hydeia lay useless in rotting, prickly rushes.
Uloki's cry screeched out as he sailed through the window,
talons first and crashed into the back of the Mystic's head,
then was gone from sight as Tyalan flew by, diving toward
Lannis. It was a heady confusing sight to see through
Tyalan's eyes amid the chaos of the room.
Hydeia's head was wrenched off the floor, pulled back by
her hair. Earon, the younger Queenswatch, pressed his cheek
to hers. She could feel the roughness of his stubble, smell the
stink of his excitement. "Time to pay back your kind's bloody
coin."
Tyalan's sight shifted and Hydeia saw herself as a ragged
limp heap on the dirty floor and Earon hunched over her
back, stretching her head back. Hydeia looked down upon the
young Queenswatch over her, his short sword was swinging
down upon her neck while Tyalan dove with frightening
speed. Already light-headed, the room swam in nauseating
layers until, startled, Earon turned and everything seemed to
clarify and slow.
Instinctively, the young Queenswatch swung up his hands
holding the short sword to protect his face. The scars stood [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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