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.Now the street was churned into mud andlittered with dead bodies and horse droppings.A few scavenger dogs gnawed atthe corpses and from the ashes of houses, chimneys poked skyward likemonuments to the dead.Shift.The road up to Hos-Hostigos lined with gallows with a corpse danglingfrom each one.Carrion birds were pecking at some of the bodies.Others haddecomposed to the point where not even a bird would approach them.Shift.The gateway of Tarr-Hostigos, the gates themselves gone, the hingespried loose by looters, smoke-blackened stones, dark blood stains on theflagstones of the courtyard, and over the gateway a row of spikes"No! No!"Sirna's stomach twitched, then rolled.She closed her eyes briefly, swallowedand decided that she could live with the sight of the heads decorating thosespikes.Harmakros, she noted, had his skull split from the forehead to theleft ear.They must have taken his head when they picked up his body on thebattlefield.Page 121ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlSome of the others Ptosphes and Chartiphon must have suffered the same fate.There was also one empty spike."What happened to Rylla?"Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlEldra swallowed."You don't want to know the details.As to what happened toher body someone lifted it off the spike one night.Probably took it away fora decent funeral pyre, at least that's whatSarrask thought.He retaliated by herding two hundred Hostigi hostages intothe local temple of Dralm, setting it on fire and having musketeers shoot downanybody who tried to get out."Eldra silently punched in an order for more drinks, then made an elaboratebusiness of re-filling her pipe.When it was lighted again, she chuffed on it for a minute until there was athick veil of smoke over her head."So Kalvan Control One is gone and wehaven't really staffed the other Control Lines for full scale orientation.Youcould learn something on one of them, but not enough in time to go out with metoKalvan's Time-Line this season."You could also go out with me to Kalvan's Time-Line with nothing butHypno-mech orientation.You already have the language down very well, and yourGreffan accent has at least some of the right flavor, so you wouldn't becompletely a lost lamb.Normally I'm as strict about the 'No fieldorientation, no go'rule as anyone, but a time always comes when you have to bend the rules.Ifyou're willing, I'll make this one of the times."If Sirna had thought any of the Zarthani gods existed to hear a prayer ofthanks, she would have sent one that she hadn't lost control of her stomach.Those pictures of the sacked and ruined Kalvan Control One must have been atest, one she'd apparently passed at least to the point of being given anothertest.Spend a safe summer of orientation in an unmolested but badly equipped ControlTime-Line, or plunge headfirst into Kalvan's Time-Line in the middle of amajor war with nothing but her hypnotic learning and experience in Greffa toarm her against all the deprivations and horrors of a Pre-Industrial Societyat war.She knew she should analyze the situation before making her decision, as botha proper student andFirst Level Citizen.She also knew that only one factor really made adifference, and that was the knowledge that if she didn't go to Kalvan'sTime-Line with Eldra, she would never be sure of her own courage again.Her ex-husband would doubtlessly have called that attitude a relic ofbarbarism, along with physical courage itself.He might even have called it asign of reverting to her prole ancestry; that had been something he'd flung ather often enough when they were alone and he didn't have to be concerned abouthis image as an enlightened man utterly opposed to all class, sex or raceconsiderations."I'll go," Sirna said.Her ex-husband didn't matter.All that matteredsuddenly was Baltov Eldra's triumphant grin as she raised her glass to toastKalvan's victory.Sirna felt slightly guilty at that grin after all, she wastaking advantage of Eldra's kindness to spy on her but not guilty enough tochange her mind.Besides, her ex-husband would have called her guilt areversion to pre-enlightened hygienic socialization.For once, Sirna agreed with him; raising her cup, she made her own toast: "Toex-husbands and may they stay that way, with Dralm's Blessing!"Eldra enthusiastically joined her and clanked their glasses together hardenough to slosh out a good mouthful of ale.FOURTEENGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlPage 122ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlIThe Heights of Chothros were blocking the view to the northwest by the timeCaptain Phidestros reached the van [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]