The Legend of Asahiel: Book 02 - The Obsidian Key (70 page)

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Authors: Eldon Thompson

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Fantasy, #Epic, #Fantasy Fiction, #Quests (Expeditions), #Kings and Rulers, #Demonology

BOOK: The Legend of Asahiel: Book 02 - The Obsidian Key

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Then why do you tarry?

She had seen them before, these blood-suns. But never one like this. With a mother’s instinct, her hand went to the phial hung around her neck, its inner heart beating to the rhythm of her own.

Have you forgotten what we are doing out here?

“I’ve forgotten nothing,” she snapped, so suddenly that she felt a crick in her neck. “The only surprise would have been if it
didn’t
happen, remember?”

But so soon. The Leviathan’s hunger grows, and we still have a long way to go.

“Yes, we do. And if you quit pestering me, I could finish my breakfast, and we could be on our way.”

To her surprise, the Teldara did not respond. Their silence alarmed her, momentarily. So seldom did they allow her the final word. She could almost feel their awe, and it was not like them to be awed by anything. It did not bode well.

“Oh, have it your way, then,” she said, emptying her small bowl of mashed roots-and-berries in disgust. “I’m not all that hungry anyway.”

You will need your strength.

“I have all that I need, and more, and never you forget it,” she grumbled, gathering up her things. “You’d just better be right about this.”

But of course, they always were.

They could have reminded her, but didn’t, as she shouldered her skins and pouches and stamped upon the ground where she had slept, muttering a cleansing rite. When that was finished, she wasted no time, but shuffled onward, north through the trees.

While from the east, the dawning sun rained blood upon her back.

About the Author

After washing out as a college quarterback, Eldon Thompson returned to his first love, writing. Unfortunately, he’s found wrestling plots and characters to be every bit as rough, though with less physical bruising. The author of
The Crimson Sword,
he splits his time between the Oregon coast and Southern California, where he is at work on the next legend of Asahiel.

www.eldonthompson.com

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ALSO BY ELDON THOMPSON

The Crimson Sword

Credits

Based on a design by Iva Hacker-Delany

Yawacor map by Tone Rodriguez

Pentania map by David Cain

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE OBSIDIAN KEY
. Copyright © 2006 by Eldon Thompson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition JUNE 2006 ISBN: 9780061856297

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thompson, Eldon.

The obsidian key / by Eldon Thompson.—1st ed.

p. cm.—(The legend of Asahiel ; bk. 2)

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-074152-5 (acid-free paper)

ISBN-10: 0-06-074152-X (acid-free paper)

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