Heris fiddled. She sent the Ninth Unknown to the falcon beside Lila. She positioned the Bastard and the ascendant precisely. “Nobody moves now, except me. And Piper after he reports. Then he goes to his falcon.” She took Renfrow’s blood to a point she had calculated to a fraction of an inch. Then she stopped moving, too. Stood looking back at Hecht, waiting.
Hecht lay down on his stomach and gripped the stone of the Great Sky Fortress. He stared all that long way down and tried to conquer terror. No human mind ought to have to endure this.
Dwarves still moved down the switchbacks on the mountain, apparently running. They dwindled, became dots moving toward the golden barge. Dots from the waterfront town joined them. They all streamed onto the ship.
Minutes passed. Then, sharp as a hammer strike-bam! — all color went out of the barge and waterfront. The gateway to the Andorayan Sea snapped shut.
Hecht said, “Heris, the color just went away.”
“Good. They’re gone. The Realm is closed.”
Meaning all the Aelen Kofer were gone, with their exits sealed up behind. No matter what happened here, now, none of the Old Ones would be able to follow or escape to the middle world.
Heris asked, “Everybody set? Girls? Piper? Anna? Pella? Double Great? Here we go.” She tilted the beaker of divine blood. Tor Books by Glen Cook
