Always his friend, whatever the world said.
“Elfwyn has wizardry,” Cefwyn murmured, knowing he was not wrong.
“I ever so hope it was your teaching.”
A moment of silence. “The boy was offered many things on his journey.
He found something within himself, where it always was.”
Cefwyn turned his back to the window, his face to Tristen, as if a glance could answer what had no answer, nor might have for years. “His mother’s heritage, do you say?”
“His mother had a choice,” Tristen said. “Both the sisters had, at the start. Neither was strong enough. Tarien came closest to escape.”
He thought he understood what Tristen was telling him. He could hardly imagine that Tarien Aswydd could have been like Emuin, that the choice of wizardry rather than sorcery had been within her reach. Some Aswydd far back in the line had made a certain fatal choice, was what he had believed, a choice that had damned all the line.
And he had, in his folly, joined that bloodline to his own, linked these two boys, these brothers.
He looked back at his sons, saw they had risen from the step. Aewyn put his arm about Elfwyn’s shoulders.
Elfwyn’s arm went about Aewyn’s. Two boys, pushing and shoving at each other, meandered back to their fallen weaponry. They gathered swords and shields up out of the snow and, falling in together with a second round of elbows and now evident laughter, passed out of view.
Tracks remained, a serpentine in winter white, one set of tracks, weaving this way and that, but going side by side.
4 0 2
About the Author
C. J. CHERRYH—three-time winner of the coveted Hugo Award—is one of today’s bestselling and most critically acclaimed writers of science fiction and fantasy. The author of more than fifty novels, she makes her home in Spokane, Washington.
www.cherryh.com
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also by
c. j. cherryh
Fortress of Dragons
Fortress of Owls
Fortress of Eagles
Fortress in the Eye of Time
Forge of Heaven
Hammerfall
Credits
Jacket illustration by Matt Stawicki
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
FORTRESS OF ICE. Copyright © 2006 by C. J. Cherryh. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader October 2006 ISBN 0-06-087368-X
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cherryh, C.J.
Fortress of ice / C.J. Cherryh.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97904-2
ISBN-10: 0-380-97904-7
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Document Outline
Cover Image
Title Page
Contents Prologue
Book One Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Book Two Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by C.J. Cherryh
Credits
Copyright Notice
About the Publisher
C. J. Cherryh, Fortress of Ice
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