Valdemar 05 - [Vows & Honor 02] - Oathbreakers

Table of Contents

 

But it was. A spirit-Kal‘enedral was manifesting before Tarma's and Kethry's astonished eyes, a spirit which was violating every precept to appear.

He seemed to be fighting against something; his form wavered in and out of visibility as he held out frantic, empty hands to her, and he seemed to be laboring to speak. Kethry saw with mage-sight the veil of sickly white power that was encasing the spirit like a filthy web, keeping him from full manifestation.

“There‘s—Goddess, there's a counterspell—” Kethry started out of her entrancement. “It's preventing
any
magic from entering this room! He can't manifest! I—I have to break it, or—”

“Don‘t!” Tarma hissed. “You break a counterspell and they'll
know
one of us is a mage!”

Tarma turned back to the spirit to see that he had given up the effort to speak—and she saw that his hands were moving. “Keth—his hands—”

As Kethry's eyes were again drawn to the wavering figure, Tarma read his message.
Death-danger,
she read, and
assassins....

available from DAW Books:

 

THE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR
ARROWS OF THE QUEEN
ARROW'S FLIGHT
ARROW'S FALL

 

THE LAST HERALD-MAGE
MAGIC'S PAWN
MAGIC'S PROMISE
MAGIC'S PRICE

 

THE MAGE WINDS
WINDS OF FATE
WINDS OF CHANGE
WINDS OF FURY

 

THE MAGE STORMS
STORM WARNING
STORM RISING
STORM BREAKING

 

VOWS AND HONOR
THE OATHBOUND
OATHBREAKERS
OATHBLOOD

 

THE COLLEGIUM CHRONICLES
FOUNDATION
BY THE SWORD
BRIGHTLY BURNING
TAKE A THIEF
EXILE'S HONOR
EXILE'S VALOR

 

VALDEMAR
ANTHOLOGIES:
SWORD OF ICE
SUN IN GLORY
CROSSROADS
MOVING TARGETS

 

Written with
LARRY DIXON:

 

THE MAGE WARS
THE BLACK GRYPHON
THE WHITE GRYPHON
THE SILVER GRYPHON

 

DARIAN'S TALE
OWLFLIGHT
OWLSIGHT
OWLKNIGHT

 

 

THE BLACK SWAN

 

THE DRAGON JOUSTERS
JOUST
ALTA
SANCTUARY
AERIE

 

THE ELEMENTAL MASTERS
THE SERPENT'S SHADOW
THE GATES OF SLEEP
PHOENIX AND ASHES
THE WIZARD OF LONDON
RESERVED FOR THE CAT

 

 

And don't miss:
THE VALDEMAR COMPANION
Edited by John Helfers and Denise Little

Copyright © 1989 by Mercedes R. Lackey.

 

All Rights Reserved.

 

Interior maps by Larry Warner

 

 

For color prints of Jody Lee's paintings, please contact:
The Cerridwen Enterprise
P.O. Box 10161
Kansas City, MO 64111
Phone: 1-800-825-1281

 

 

All songs © 1987 by Firebird Arts & Music Inc., Lyrics by Mercedes Lackey.

 

For further information on these songs,
send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to
FIREBIRD ARTS & MUSIC, INC.
P.O. Box 14785
Portland, OR 97214-9998
Phone: 1-800-752-0494

 

 

DAW Book Collectors No. 768.

 

 

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-12789-6

 

 

 

First Printing, January

DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED
U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES
—MARCA REGISTRADA
HECHO EN U.S.A.

 

 

S.A.

Dedicated to:
Betsy, Don and Elsie

 

The
real
magic-makers

 

Thanks, folks.

I
t was a
d
ark and stormy night....

:Pah!:
Warrl said with disgust so thick Tarma could taste it.
:Must you even
think
in cliches?:

Tarma took her bearings during another flash of lightning, tried and failed to make out Warrl's shaggy bulk against watery blackness, then thought back at him,
Well it is, damnit!

Tarma shena Tale‘sedrin, who was Shin'a‘in nomad, Kal'enedral (or, to outClansmen, a “Sword- sworn”), and most currently Scoutmaster for the mercenary company called “Idra's Sunhawks” was
not
particularly happy at this moment. She was sleet-drenched, cold and numb, and mired to her armpits; as was her companion, the lupine
kyree
Warrl. The Sunhawks' camp was black as the inside of a box at midnight, for all it was scarcely an hour past sunset. Her hair was plastered flat to her skull, and trickles of icy water kept running into her eyes. She couldn't even feel the ends of her fingers anymore. Her feet hurt, her joints ached, her nose felt so frozen it was like to fall off, and her teeth were chattering hard enough to splinter. She was not pleased, having to stumble around in the dark and freezing rain to find the tent she shared with her partner and oathbound sister, the White Winds sorceress, Kethry.