The Witch's Daughter Read Free

grave!
    “Never!” Thalasi hissed, but the words lacked conviction. Even at the height of his power, Morgan Thalasi had never been able to accomplish such complete destruction as the explosion of Grok. The energy that had ripped the unfortunate talon to tiny pieces had flowed through the broken limbs of the battered body of the Black Warlock pure and powerful.
    Too powerful.
    I know that I was part of the execution
, Thalasi thought, surrendering the taxing control of the mouth, a calmness sweeping over him. He had felt the power surge, familiar from the days before he had joined with Reinheiser. But although he had been part of the being that issued the explosive blast, he had been only one part.
    And yet, somehow, not a part at all, as if the result of the combination of the two spirits, joined by the threat of the talon, had been a completely new being, something greater than both of them.
    Yet I know and admit that it was beyond me
, Thalasi continued, asking as much as explaining.
    What, then?
Reinheiser prompted, equally uncertain.
    Unity
, Thalasi answered him.
Did you feel it? Of course you felt it, and you know the truth. It was neither Reinheiser nor Thalasi that sundered the flesh of Grok
.
    Both
, Reinheiser completed the thought.
    They did not have to consciously communicate to know that they continued to entertain similar thoughts and emotions. How good that moment of power had felt! Like freedom. The promise of strength beyond anything either of them would have believed possible hovered about them, a dangling carrot.
    If they could only reach out and grab it!
    Snap the fingers of the left hand
, Thalasi begged Reinheiser.
Join me in this action
.
    Reinheiser willed the hand to move. It rose up in front of the face, trembling through every inch of the ascent. Both spirits ignored the pain, focused solely on the task at hand. Thumb and middle finger moved tentatively, their tips resting together.
    They crossed and twisted as the arm bulged in discordant pain. Desperately trying to retrieve that moment of ecstasy, the two wills frantically pulled at the fingers, ordering them to their task. Muscles knotted and tore, a new bruise erupted in the wrist. Still the spirits fought on to accomplish this simplest of tasks. But more stubborn than their willpower was the impossibility of harmony. Despite all their efforts, the fingers trembled uselessly.
    The mouth opened again in a silent scream of frustration.
        “Blew ’im to little bits, ’e did!” Burgle said to the gathered crowd. “I seen it, I tell ye! Never hopin’ to see it again, neither!”
    “Bah, yer words is spit, is all,” said another, a large, burly talon that had served as one of Grok’s lieutenants and had been expecting a position of authority once Grok took care of the feeble human.
    “Burgle’s tellin’ ye right!” cried yet another. “I seen the room. Bits an’ blood liken a wars was foughted.”
    “Proves nothin’!” yelled the lieutenant.
    “Then where’s Grok?” Burgle retorted. He turned toward the tower to accentuate his next point. “An’ why’s the Thalasi still sittin’ at home?”
    A dozen misshapen talon heads followed Burgle’s gaze to regard the high black wall of Talas-dun.
    There would be no more threats to the Black Warlock this day or any day soon.
        
No use
, Reinheiser thought at length.
Too many actions are involved in every motion. We cannot hope to synchronize our thought patterns so completely
.
    Are we doomed, then?
replied Thalasi.
Doomed in this living hell?
    So it would seem
.
    “No!” This time Thalasi’s reply came out audibly, as his frustration momentarily wrenched the mouth to his sole possession. Reinheiser recovered quickly, before Thalasi could utter any more words without obstruction.
    Get out!
Thalasi’s will demanded. The muscles of the torn body heaved to action again, took up their fight.
    Reinheiser’s reply caught Thalasi completely out of sorts. Always before,