The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence (Wraeththu) - Softcover

Constantine, Storm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765303515 ISBN 13: 9780765303516

Verlag: Tor Books, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

The Wraeththu series is an underground classic, a perennial in Tor's trade paperback list. The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence brings the second trilogy of the series to a startling conclusion.

Set on a future Earth, where humanity has been replaced by a mutant race of hermaphrodites who call themselves Wraeththu, this second trilogy explores the shocking truths of their origins.

Two brothers, children of the rulers of the Wraeththu, are raised apart from each other--one in the luxuries of the city of Immanion, the other among a distant tribe. Each becomes a tool for mysterious forces who seek to overthrow the rulers of Earth. Their struggle is both powerful and mythic, and brings this cycle of Wraeththu history to a remarkable conclusion.

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Storm Constantine

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The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence

The Third Book of the Wraeththu HistoriesBy Constantine, Storm

Tor Books

Copyright © 2009 Constantine, Storm
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780765303516

Chapter One

Darquiel’s pearl hatched on the eve of midsummer when, outside Phade’s Tower, clouds of mosquitoes hung above the pools in the courtyard, so thirsty they would drink water rather than blood. It hatched in that strange hour when neither light nor dark holds sway, and hara walked home through the balmy air, drunk on the perfume of wild roses, thinking of love. But high in the tower room, where it had long been twilight, there were no thoughts of love. The walls to the room were white, and they glowed in the dusk. The narrow window frames were painted black, devoid of drapes or blinds, and the floorboards were bare and unvarnished. It was a room that was never used, not until now.
 
The pearl rested in a nest of woolen blankets, surrounded by lamps, on an old wooden table. In the soft glow the pearl gleamed, semitranslucent. Limbs writhed slowly within it, pressing against the decomposing membrane. Eventually, the pearl ripped and a meaty sweet smell came from it.
 
For some moments after the leathery sac fell apart, the lone har who observed the event feared the harling within the pearl was dead, for there was no further movement for over a minute. Then Darquiel’s head emerged, his brow creased in a frown. He pulled aside the scraps of leather that had once enfolded him and wriggled forth from his bower of nutrient slime. His head waved this way and that, like the head of a cobra. His black eyes surveyed all that he saw before him with what appeared to be a critical view. He expressed a sigh of ennui. Life had come. He did not, nor ever would, resemble a normal child.
 
While nighthawks hovered outside the window, and dogs in the courtyard pulled upon their chains and wept at the night, Phade har Olopade, sole witness, lifted the newly hatched harling in his hands and held him at arm’s length. Its body was covered with viscous fluid and the smell of the nutrients that had nurtured it within the pearl stung Phade’s nostrils. He half expected the harling to spray him with black venom or utter a curse. Surely his tongue would be forked? “I name you Darquiel har Aralis,” Phade said and the child went limp in his hands.
 
The second heir to the throne of Immanion had gone to sleep, exhausted by the thought of what was to come.
 
Nohar had come to witness the hatching, except for Phade, and he had had no choice, because the pearl had been transferred into his care. There was an air of desolation in that stark chamber, high in the main tower of Phade’s domain. He had not asked for this responsibility and did not welcome it. If a harling of high birth had to be hidden away in this forgotten corner of the world, it could not bode well. The harling must be reared ignorant of his parentage. Phade must attempt to raise him as an ordinary child, but it was clear, from the very first breath that he took, that Darquiel har Aralis was far from ordinary.
 
Ten days before, a sedu had emerged from the otherlanes, bearing a tall, aquiline-featured har, whose hair was the color of bright platinum and who was swathed in black.
 
The visitor had been presented to Phade in his office on the second floor of the tower, which overlooked the yard. It had been a blustery day. Phade had been called from the stables and knew he smelled of horse. He tied back his thick black hair to appear more businesslike, then sat behind his desk.
 
Somehar knocked on the door and Phade called, “Come in.” He folded his hands before him.
 
One of his house-hara came into the room and bowed. Behind him, the white-haired visitor loomed in an imposing manner. Phade cleared his throat. He wondered what kind of business such an exotic creature could have with him.
 
“Your visitor, tiahaar,” the house-har said, and fled.
 
The har was not known to Phade and did not offer his name. At first, he said nothing, but appraised Phade overtly and perhaps came to private conclusions.
 
“Good day, tiahaar,” Phade said. “Forgive my house-har, he did not tell me who you are.” He raised his eyebrows expectantly.
 
The visitor said only: “I come from Lord Thiede. He has a task for you.”
 
Phade had gone cold from head to foot at once. In the past, he’d been used to dealing with Thiede’s often bizarre requests, but since Thiede had left the realm of earth, Phade had been left unmolested. He could now run his domain independently, free from the nagging fear of what tomorrow might bring. He could walk the fields with an easy stride. He was free. Hardly anyhar outside of Samway knew he even existed.
 
“What task is this?” he asked, noting that the har before him was concealing something within the voluminous folds of his robes.
 
His visitor brought forth the pearl and unwrapped it. Phade stared at it for some moments, unaware of what it was. “In perhaps as little as ten days’ time, this pearl will hatch,” said the visitor. “Thiede requires you to care for this harling and raise it, here at Samway.”
 
“Whose pearl is it?” Phade asked, knowing that this was the most important question.
 
His visitor barely paused. “It is a child of the Aralisian dynasty,” he said. “Its father is Pellaz, Tigron of the Gelaming.”
 
Phade was silent for a moment. “He is known to me.”
 
The visitor inclined his head. “Indeed, I understand the Tigron came to Samway before Thiede crowned him in Immanion.”
 
“Yes. He stayed here for a while.” Phade cast his mind back to that time and remembered the shriveled husk who had been brought to his domain, and the golden har who had later risen from that husk, reborn. Pellaz har Aralis. Phade had not forgotten him. “Is my tenuous connection with Pellaz the reason why a child of Immanion is brought to my tower?” he asked.
 
“No,” said the visitor. “It must simply be concealed.”
 
“Like a changeling child in a fairy tale,” Phade observed.
 
The visitor pulled a mordant face. “Perhaps. Thiede creates stories. The child must never know who created it.” He swept back his platinum hair with both hands. Phade saw there were black pearls plaited into the hair, and the har’s jewelry was also set with pearls. He must be high-ranking. “The Olopade are hidden,” said the visitor. “Samway is virtually unknown.”
 
“And why must the harling be concealed?”
 
The visitor pulled a wry face. “Let us simply say it is a child of grissecon, born before its time. Many powers of the realms would desire to own it, should they know of its existence. What you see before you is, or could be, the seed of our kind’s destruction. Or it could be a savior. It is difficult to say. Far better that it lives a normal life, ignorant of its heritage. It must not know its origins.”
 
Phade stared at the pearl and tried to match the image with the words. It wouldn’t work. The pearl looked like a gourd or a wizened black melon. It did not look like destruction or salvation.
 
“I have...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Tor Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0765303515
• ISBN 13: 9780765303516
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 464
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Braun; https://in.pg.com/contact-us/; ; Sulzbacher Str. 40-50; Schwalbach/Ts.; 65824; Deutschland