The Fate of the Fallen (The Song of the Tears Book 1)
Page 60
He eased himself into the deep shadows to the left of the opening, crouched and pulled up great handfuls of dead moss until he was covered in it.
‘Nish?’ said Maelys.
‘There’s only one hope left,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s do or die this time and I don’t care which.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Stay back; distract Father so he thinks I’ve escaped. As soon as he breaks through, scream my name and leave the rest to me.’
‘To the wall,’ hissed Zham, sweeping them together in his long arms and thrusting them backwards as the clay seal began to crack and fall out. ‘Pretend Nish has gone through the hidden door. When Jal-Nish comes in, we all attack him at once.’
Fragments crashed to the floor and misty light flooded in. Maelys reached out towards the wall and yelled, ‘Nish?’ as shrilly as she could.
‘What the –?’ cried Jal-Nish, then leapt to the floor of the cave.
Maelys spun around, trying to maintain the pretence that Nish had disappeared. Jal-Nish came forwards, staring at the closed door. ‘How did he get away?’
‘Get him!’ roared Zham, hurling himself at Jal-Nish.
Nish propelled himself to his feet. Jal-Nish spun around, sure he was under attack, but Nish wasn’t going for him. He dived and thrust his left hand deep into Reaper.
And shrieked.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Irvine was born in Bathurst in 1950, and educated at Chevalier College and the University of Sydney, where he took a PhD in marine science.
After working as an environmental project manager, Ian set up his own consulting firm in 1986, carrying out studies for clients in Australia and overseas. He has worked in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. An expert in marine pollution, Ian has developed some of Australia’s national guidelines for the protection of the oceanic environment and continues to work in this field.
Ian lives with his family in northern New South Wales. His 11-book epic fantasy series, comprising The View from the Mirror, The Well of Echoes and The Song of the Tears, has been published Australia, the UK, the US and in many translations, and has sold over a million copies. He is currently working on the long-awaited sequel to The View from the Mirror.
Ian can be contacted at https://www.facebook.com/ianirvine.author
His web site is http://www.ian-irvine.com
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/153703.Ian_Irvine
OTHER BOOKS BY IAN IRVINE
Epic fantasy
THE THREE WORLDS SEQUENCE
THE VIEW FROM THE MIRROR QUARTET
A Shadow on the Glass
The Tower on the Rift
Dark is the Moon
The Way Between the Worlds
THE WELL OF ECHOES QUARTET
Geomancer
Tetrarch
Scrutator
Chimaera
SONG OF THE TEARS TRILOGY
Torments of the Traitor
The Curse on the Chosen
The Destiny of the Dead
Other Epic Fantasy
THE TAINTED REALM TRILOGY
Vengeance
Rebellion
Justice
Thrillers about catastrophic climate change
THE HUMAN RITES TRILOGY
The Last Albatross
Terminator Gene
The Life Lottery
For younger readers
THE RUNCIBLE JONES QUARTET
Runcible Jones, The Gate to Nowhere
Runcible Jones and The Buried City
Runcible Jones and the Frozen Compass
Runcible Jones and the Backwards Hourglass
THE GRIM AND GRIMMER QUARTET
The Headless Highwayman
The Grasping Goblin
The Desperate Dwarf
The Calamitous Queen
For primary readers
THE SORCERER’S TOWER
Thorn Castle
Giant’s Lair
Black Crypt
Wizardry Crag
NOTES
The Calendar: Santhenar’s year is about 395.7 days (adjusted to 396) and contains twelve months, each of them thirty-three days.
Ell: An ell is a small (and approximate) measure of distance, about the length of a finger joint.
League: A league is about five thousand paces.
Span: A span is the distance spanned by the stretched arms of a tall man, roughly two paces or six feet.