Destiny Read Free Page A

her… Sorundi will explain the situation. Perhaps… perhaps you’ll be able to help… as you did with my son Gerart when he was poisoned. Although the case is very different…” the Queen said with tears welling up in her eyes.
    “By all means, your Majesty,” Aliana said, and bowed.
    “Gerart, take the Healer to the Mother of her Order,” the Queen said.
    Nobody spoke for a moment, and a heavy silence fell on the hall.
    “In three days we shall decide how to proceed,” the King stated, his eyes on Haradin, “You may go now.”
     
     
     
    Night was falling over the Western Tower, the place which Haradin considered his home away from his true home, there in the capital of the kingdom. The tower rose regally, adjacent to the imposing Royal Castle with its six round towers. The Mage’s tower, as opposed to the royal ones, was narrower and darker, as if the mystical arts Haradin practiced inside it had blackened it with the passing of time, whereas those of the Royal Castle remained spotless, to delight the eyes of anyone who looked at them. Nonsense , he thought, and went up the winding stone staircase to the highest and narrowest part of the tower: the pigeon-loft.
    It was not exactly a pigeon-loft in the strictest meaning of the word, even though that was what it had originally been prepared as. Here rested those very special creatures, bred to travel the sky and fly in search of very specific and unique destinations. He went up to one of the birds and carefully took off the leather hood which covered its head. The enormous white falcon looked at its master and the surroundings with quick movements of eyes and head. Haradin always felt wonder at the sight of these singular birds. They were bigger than a royal eagle, and their plumage was as white as a dove’s. But they belonged to the falcon family. They were unequalled hunters and equally outstanding as messengers. A very special mastery was required to train them, but the Watchers had been doing this in secret for centuries.
    “It’s time to find your Keeper,” he whispered to the great bird.
    Carefully he fastened the message to its right leg and loosened the leather cord which tethered the bird to its wooden perch. The intelligent bird stepped onto Haradin’s wrist and waited. The Mage walked out onto the elevated balcony and breathed the night air as he watched the sky.
    “Take wing,” he whispered, and launched it from his arm. The falcon soared into the air and disappeared in the darkness.
    Haradin repeated the process with four other falcons.
    He had to make his brothers, the Keepers of the Enigma, come back. He needed them here to help him control the very difficult situation which was developing. Three of the Chosen, of the Bearers, had come to his door: unbelievably, unexpectedly. What was unfolding was serious… very serious. Haradin watched the last of the falcons into the distance, hoping they would all make it safely to their destinations. He needed the Keepers with him. What he had feared so much was beginning to happen. Worry had been eating at his stomach for a long time, knowing as he did what was to come. It was a future, a destiny, as black as the soul of a demon.
    A strange sensation which he immediately identified put him on his guard. He tensed and held his staff firmly. He felt magic: powerful, very close. It was as if someone had thrown a rock into a still pool, the pool of energy within him. The disturbing waves which resulted were unmistakable.
    “Only a brave man or a fool would dare trouble a Mage in his tower in the middle of the night,” Haradin said without turning round. “Which one are you, Komir?”
    “Both,” the young man replied, with a cold voice.
    Haradin turned and saw Komir appear, crouching amid the shadows of the pigeon-loft.
    “I don’t know how you managed to fool the Royal Guard and reach my rooms. It’s a real feat, young Norriel.”
    “It wasn’t that hard.”
    “A feat, and also a foolish