aside a clump of hair from Ulrich’s temple. No fear in touching this mortal. Secretly, she felt daring to do so. “What happened to you?”
“A damned crossroads,” he said in a tone that blamed her for not guessing the obvious. Moving up to prop on his elbows, he blew out a bluster of breath. “I wasn’t paying attention, and walked right into the center of the infernal place. Hell would be most pleased to open a tavern right there.” He gestured forcefully toward the spot he had stood. “Plenty of doomed souls for the taking.”
“What has a crossroads to do with whatever it was that tormented you?”
“You don’t know?”
She shook her head. “When we joined hands I felt something…so icy, I could have frozen.”
“Ah. Yes. The chill of death. Do not faeries have their lost souls? Suicides and murders? They gather at crossroads.”
“Who?”
“The souls! Lost and misdirected souls wandering a purgatorial nightmare. They convene at crossroads because that is where we mortals bury the forsaken.”
“Ghosts?”
“Not exactly. Souls, Gossamyr. Souls. Disembodied and searching.”
She turned to look over the place where Ulrich had battled. Souls? The revenants cannot commence the final twinclian without an essence. “Like…revenants?”
“I know not what a revenant is.”
“They are—”Skeletal flying beasts with wings. She clasped both elbows. Better to keep that information to herself. “Why could I not see them? Did you see them?”
“Not in a physical way. But believe me, I felt their icy, possessive bones everywhere. Had you not dragged me away I would have been trapped until dawn guiding those damned souls to Hades. So horribly the same!”
“Guiding them? I do not understand. Be this magic?”
“Far from it. Let’s walk, shall we?”
Ulrich stood. Bell-wavering forward a few steps, he turned and groped Fancy’s flanks to steady. Had she not known him sober Gossamyr would have guessed him soused. “Distance, my lady, we need to get Jean César Ulrich Villon III far from this horrific place. I can yet feel them leering at me, waiting for me to stumble back onto their domain.”
She squinted, yet sighted nothing but gray shadows upon darkness. A chirr of crickets resumed their night symphony, and a snort from Fancy drew her attention around.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
