190
Alan Dean Poster
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
191
The six-inch high wall ended at both ends against a sheer
cliff of gray granite.
The four captives filled this arena. Once they were
inside the insignificant walls, Grelgen and two other fairies
stood within the archways waving their wands and murmuring
importantly. When the invocation was finished, she stepped
back and retreated toward the village with her cronies.
Folly took a step toward the minuscule barrier and tried
to step over. She gasped and drew back as if bitten,
holding her right hand.
“What is it?” Jon-Tom asked anxiously.
“It’s hot. The air’s hot.”
Experimentally, Jon-Tom waved at the emptiness above
the tiny stone wall. An invisible wall of flame now
enclosed them. He shook his hand and blew on his fingers
to cool them, deciding they weren’t going to blister.
Escape wouldn’t be easy.
Roseroar sighed and settled herself on the hard ground.
“An ironic conclusion to yoah expedition, Jon-Tom. Cap-
tured and imprisoned by a bunch of disgruntled, not to
mention uncouth, enchanted folk.”
“Don’t be so quick to give up. They may decide to let
us go yet. Besides,” he swung his duar around, “we have
magic of our own.”
Mudge looked imploringly heavenward. “Why me, wot?”
“I do not know that spellsinging will work against the
fairy folk, sir,” said Jalwar. “In my travels I have heard
that they are immune to all forms of magic except their
own. It may be that yours will have no effect on them, and
may even be turned against you.”
“You don’t say.” Jon-Tom’s fingers fell from the duar’s
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325