Dragon’s Ring — Snippet 15
Chapter 14
It had taken Hrodenynbrys a long time to swim back to the halls of his people. The merrow had time to think. He was, according to most of his kind, too inclined to do that anyway. A merrow’s place was to revel in the wild water and the storm, to hunt great fish, whales or giant Kraken, and, naturally, to keep up the traditional pastime of caging the souls of drowned sailors. Hrodenynbrys was not entirely sure that that was worthwhile, or that successful. One couldn’t ever get them all. He was fond enough of wild water and the hunt. But . . . it might be that they hunted bigger game, and in a wilder ocean this time.
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TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 27
Chapter Thirteen
“Welcome to Torch, Dr. Kare.”
“Why, thank you, ah, Your Majesty.”
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TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 26
With Ganny El, who knew? She might have learned enough about Jeremy to realize that he was more likely to be charmed by such as Brice Miller than he was to be offended by him. It was not as if the words “brash” and “impudent” had never been bestowed on him too, after all.
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Dragon’s Ring — Snippet 14
Chapter 13
Vorlian had acted with great circumspection, calling them together only some days later. It was probable that Zuamar had talked to other dragons. It was possible that he’d talked to Vorlian merely as a feint, or a warning. He was one of the old ones and they were as cunning as only a dragon that had survived to that age could be.
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TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 25
Chapter Twelve
It took no more than three days in the presence of Elfride Margarete Butre for Hugh Arai to figure out how the woman had managed to keep her clan together for half a century, in the face of tremendous adversity. Not just intact, either, but reasonably healthy and well-educated — so long as you were prepared to allow that “well-educated” was a broad enough phrase to include very uneven knowledge, eccentric methods of training, and wildly imbalanced fields of study.
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Dragon’s Ring — Snippet 13
Chapter 12
The furry, sleek head poked itself up out of the water. “What do you want, Fionn Troublemaker?” asked the otter. He sounded, Meb thought, both suspicious and resigned.
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Dragon’s Ring — Snippet 12
Chapter 11
The street was dark and still. The soft rain fell, and the cloud blanketed any hint of pre-dawn that might be lurking. Since the gleeman had snuffed the candle and left it in the hall, Meb had followed him more by sound and feel than anything else. She was terrified that she’d lose him. So terrified she’d taken a hold of his cloak-edge. She was sure that no real ‘prentice boy would have done that. They were all big and brave and generally bad. But it was very comforting, and her new master had not complained. She was still very much in frightened awe of him. She could hardly believe what they’d done the night before . . . .
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TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 24
“Okay, kid. Who are you?”
Oddly, the monster’s voice was a rather pleasant tenor. From his appearance, you’d have expected a basso profundo with an undertone of gravel being poured down a chute.
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Dragon’s Ring — Snippet 11
Chapter 10
The sons of Chiron stood around the sacred pool like statues, perfectly placed and ordered. Not a tail moved, nor nostril flared, as they focussed their will on the pool. The peat-stained water was very dark and very still. That stillness was a rare thing up here where the winds were born. Yet the faintest ripple would destroy the working that they had struggled so to achieve. This was an ancient place, steeped in magics. The future that they sought to explore was always an uncertain country.
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TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 23
Chapter Eleven
Hugh Arai had seen no reason to dilly-dally about the business. They had to move quickly, in fact, or the simple and crude event-loop they’d reconfigured the camera and sensors to show would alert the slavers very soon, unless they were completely inattentive. So the BSC team went into the command center firing. Quite literally — Marti Garner, in the lead because she was the best marksman, had already shot two of the slavers in the center before she finished passing through the entrance.
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