Edge of Destiny (41 page)

It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered anymore.

“Don’t move!”

Garm snapped his head upright, eyes blazing ferociously.

“Stay exactly like that.”

He and Eir had returned to Hoelbrak, to her long-disused workshop. Just now, Eir was working on the wolf statue she had abandoned long ago. But she hadn’t set a single chisel to the sculpture. She only stood there, holding her tools and staring at the thing.

That’s why it was so hard to stay still.

Eir sighed, shaking her head. “I can’t see it.”

Garm lifted his eyebrows questioningly, but then tried to look straight ahead.

“It’s not in there. The statue isn’t in there anymore.”

Eir laid down her chisels and mallet and stepped up and shoved the rock over, smashing it to the workshop floor.

•     •     •     

Caithe walked along the Dragonbrand—the wide swath of destruction laid down by Kralkatorrik. Every once in a while, she would bend down and pull a large green crystal from the sands.

“Dragon blood,” she said, staring gladly at one such stone before sliding it into her pack.

It was lonely work, wandering these desolate places, searching for the secrets of Kralkatorrik and the Elder Dragons. But it was even lonelier when she traveled to Hoelbrak or Rata Sum or Divinity’s Reach or the Black Citadel only to find that her onetime friends had become strangers.

But they would be friends again. Someday, they would join her. Someday, they would fight the dragons again.

Someday.

About the Author

J. ROBERT KING has written over twenty published novels. In addition to
Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny,
Rob has recently published
Angel of Death
and
Death’s Disciples
with Angry Robot Books. Rob also authored the
Mad Merlin
trilogy with Tor, and the Holmes novel
The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls
with Forge.

Rob is very pleased to be collaborating with the ArenaNet team, many of whom he has worked with before. About a decade ago, Jeff Grubb taught Rob to play
Magic: The Gathering,
and Rob went on to write eight Magic novels, including the
Onslaught
and
Invasion
trilogies. He also got to write
The Thran,
which told the origin story of Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians. During that same period, Rob wrote three short stories for
The Duelist
magazine for Will McDermott, who became his point person on all things
Guild Wars
. Rob also edited the first
Legend of the Five Rings
novels, including a couple fine entries from Ree Soesbee, who has been instrumental in developing
Edge of Destiny.
Rob could not have hoped for a finer team of creatives to work with.

Rob lives and works in Wisconsin, where he is editor-in-chief at Write Source and UpWrite Press, imprints that produce writing-instructional materials for kindergarten through graduate school. He has three brilliant sons—writers as well—and a beautiful, multitalented wife. A pair of guinea pigs, two rabbits, two cats, a gecko, and a salamander consider Rob their food god, though he has not had the courage to claim them as dependents on his tax forms.

You can find Rob on Twitter @jrobertking.