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Morris, Janet - Beyond Wizardwall




BEYOND WIZARDWALL

JANET MORRIS




Contents


Book One: Token of the God
Book Two: Fete Week
Book Three: Beyond the Veil
Book Four: Festival of Man
Book Five: Winners' Day




Book One:
TOKEN OF THE GOD



The young officer's face was shiny with sweat, his eyes closed, his back against the stallboards. In his
lap lay the head of his pregnant sorrel mare, exhausted and blowing hard from her long labor.

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 Morris, Janet - Beyond Wizardwall


The straw around them was fouled from her water and scattered from her struggles, but the Tr├┤s foal
she carried remained unborn.
Niko's mare wouldn't let anyone else in the stall with her and Niko was no closer to grabbing the
unborn foal's hooves and pulling it from her womb than he'd been before nightfall.
Outside a snowstorm raged but, in the stall, mare and master were hot and thirsty. He'd been drunk
when one of the Stepsons from his unit had come to fetch him at Brother Bomba's in Peace FallsтАФas
drunk and drugged as he could manage, keeping his thoughts at bay.
Heavy snows had put the war against Mygdonia and its Nisibisi wizards into hiatus; magic had been
employed by Niko's commander, Tempus, to bring his mixed cadre of shock troops (Rankan 3rd
Commando rangers, Tysian "specials," guerrilla hillmen of Free Nisibis, and Niko's own unit of
Stepsons) back to Tyse for the winter. Though the fighting had ended inconclusively, with the
Mygdonian warlord Ajami still at large, Tempus's joint forces had declared themselves victoriousтАФ
they'd won the battle, if not the war. They'd ridden through a tunnel of cloud and into Tyse triumphant
and had settled down to wait for spring, content, all but for Niko, with the season's work.