Kevin's Watch

Fist and Faith wrote:Oh yeah, I'd LOVE to read every word he originally wrote!

Landwaster wrote:Geeze yeah I know, I agree totally. I'd read his electricity meter if he let me.

danlo wrote:The Del Rey w/the Girl and the Dragon was published in '85, but there was and old version (the 1 w/the castle, possibly Bantam) that was also running from 84-86 which did not include Gilden-Fire that tends 2 pop-up alot in used bookstores. So my warning was probably overtly cautious--In any case: simply don't purchase the copy w/the funky medievel castle and u'll b ok!

Yet in time a kind of understanding came to the Ho-aru and Nimishi. They saw that they fought a feud they could not win. First, the clans were too evenly matched for one side to retain for long any brief ascendance. And second, even victory offered no solution to the need, for a victorious family would quickly grow in size until it was as large as two; and then the lack of food and warmth and shelter would kill as before. So the leaders of the clans met and formed the Bond. Enmity was set aside, and hands were joined. From that time onward, Ho-aru and Nimishi warred together against their common need.

However, the food seemed to meet his [Hyrim's] needs. Soon he recovered enough cheerfulness to groan, "Sister Shetra, you are not a good cook."
When she made no reply, he stretched himself on his back by the fire, sighing plaintively, "Ah, agony!" For a time, he stared at the way the flames danced without consuming along the special wood of the lillianrill. Then he turned his face to the sky and said gruffly, "Friends, I had bethought me of fit revenge against those who gave to me this unendurable ride. Since noon, I have been full of dire promises--in place of food, I think. But now I am contrite. The fault is mine alone. I have been a fat thistle-brained fool from the moment the thought of the Loresraat and Lordship entered my head. Ah, what business had I to dream of Lords and Giants, of lore and bold undertakings? Better had I been punished severely and sent to tend sheep for the rest of my days, rather than permitted to follow mad fancies. But Hoole Gren-mate my father was a kind man, slow to chastise. Alas, his memory is poorly honored in my thick self. Were he to see me now, thus reduced to raw quivering flesh and strengthless bones by one single day astride the honor of a Ranyhyn, he would have shed great fat tears as a reproach to my overfed resourcelessness."

The air around them was thick and deep, almost audibly underlined with slumber; and it shifted faintly through the dim, mottled shadows like an uneasy rest, disturbed by dreams of damage and blood repayment. It smelled so heavily of moss and damp moldering soil and rot and growth that it was hard to breathe; it seemed to resist the lungs of the riders. And the crowded branches blocked out most of the sunlight; between occasional bright swaths of filtered lamination the trees seemed to brood in gloom, contemplating death.

But the quiet of Grimmerdhore was not as impenetrable as it had first appeared. From time to time, strange hoarse birds screeched forlornly. Black squirrels raced overhead. And frequently the Bloodguard heard frightened animals scuttling sway from the company through the underbrush.

Still, the way became easier. The woods spread out within the perimeter of the brambles. The path broadened as if the trees were guarding it less closely; and animal trails wove back and forth around it. As a result, the company was able to resume its formation, with the Lords and Korik riding on the path and the other Bloodguard moving through the trees around them. Here the Ranyhyn went more quickly, almost at a trot; and the company moved straight in toward the heart of Grimmerdhore.

Avatar wrote:I think it's also the first place I realised the Haruchai are telepathic.