There was something about 'heralds,' though what that would have to do with anything, she had no notion. There was more about 'Valdemar ' and a 'queen;'
'Hardorn,' and
'Ancar.' He seemed very preoccupied with two quite different sets of people. One set seemed to be traveling, and they had something he wanted.
'Wanted?' That was like saying that she 'wanted' her freedom. He lusted over this object, whatever it was, with an intensity she had never seen him display before.
The other people were connected with this 'Ancar,' who seemed to be the enemy of the first group of people. From the pacing and muttering that went on after he had watched this person, she gathered that he was toying with the notion of contracting with this 'Ancar' and proposing an alliance.
That was something new for him, or so she gathered. He wanted to-and yet he did not want to chance losing the slightest bit of his own power.
Then, this afternoon, something had changed. The people he had been watching escaped what he had thought was a perfect trap. And they had taken the thing that he wanted with them.
Falconsbane flew into a rage and flung the stone against the opposite wall with such force that he splintered the rock of the wall and reduced the stone to fragments, and she shrank back onto her perch, doing her best not to attract him to her by moving or making a sound. He paid no attention to her whatsoever; he roared for one of his servants to come and clean up the mess, and stood over the trembling boy, looking murderously at him as the terrified child carefully gathered the sharp shards in his shaking, bare hands.
Dawnfire trembled herself, expecting at any moment that he would take out his temper on the boy as he had on the stone. There would be true murder then-With a sick feeling, she watched him reach down, slowly, clawed hands spread wide-But before he touched the boy, the door flew open, and two men in some kind of ornate uniform flung themselves into the room to abase themselves at his feet, babbling of 'failure' and 'mercy.' Falconsbane started, then grabbed the child to cover his surprise. He pulled the boy up to his feet by his hair, and threw him bodily toward the door, showering the shards around him. This time the boy did not try to pick them up; he simply made good the chance to flee. The guards blanched and immediately went back to groveling with more heartfelt sincerity than before.
He listened to them a while, then cut them short with a single gesture.
'Enough!' he growled, the fingers of his right hand crooked into claws, with the talons fully extended.
The two men fell absolutely silent.
'You failed to capture the artifact,' he said, his voice rumbling dangerously.
You failed to corner the quarry, you failed to keep them from finding aid, and you failed to acquire the artifact when you had the opportunity. I should take your lives; I should-remake you.' The men whitened to the color of fresh snow.
'There is nothing you can say that will redeem your complete stupidity,' Falconsbane continued. 'You will report to Drakan for your punishment.
I have not the time to waste upon you.' The two men started to get up; a single snarl from Falconsbane sent them back to their faces.
'I do have time to retrieve from your worthless bodies a modicum of the power you wasted in this effort.' He stretched out his right hand and spread it over the two prone men.
Dawnfire was not certain what exactly he did-but she saw the result clearly. The two men sat back on their heels suddenly, jerked erect like a pair of puppets. Their white faces were frozen in masks of pain, and their limbs trembled and jerked uncontrollably. Their mouths were open, but they uttered not so much as a single sound.
What was truly horrible about the entire tableau was the expression on Falconsbane's face.
He looked like a creature in the throes of sexual ecstasy. He had tossed his long, flowing hair back over his shoulders, and he stared off into nothingness with his eyes half-closed in pure pleasure. His fingers flexed; every time they did, the two men's bodies jerked, and their faces took on new lines of agony. Falconsbane's eyes closed completely, and he lifted his face to the light in obscene bliss.
Finally, he knotted his hand into a fist; the men shuddered, then collapsed.
He opened his eyes, slowly, and gazed down on his victims with a slow, sated smile. 'You may go,' he purred. 'Now.
Limbs stirred feebly; heads raised, and the two men began to move.
Too weak to do anything else, they crawled toward the door, slowly and painfully.