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A GUILE OF DRAGONS
A TOURNAMENT OF SHADOWS BOOK ONE
By James Enge
Prometheus Books
Copyright © 2012 James Enge
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61614-629-0
Chapter One
In a Dark Wood
The Two Powers hated everything, each other most of all. When Torlan said, "Yes," Zahkaar said, "No," and when Torlan said, "I meant no, ha ha ha," Zahkaar said, "I meant yes," and did not laugh. It made their conversations tedious, but they were not aware of it: tedium was not something they could experience.
The Two Powers pervaded the universe; so it was written in the holy books of the Anhikh sorcerer–priests. Those–who–know, the fratricidal fraternity of magical adepts, gave them a more local habitation, in the accursed forest of Tychar, Laent's dark-blue poisonous heart.
This is the history of the universe, according to the Anhikh religion of the Two Powers. In the beginning, there was nothing. Then one of the Two Powers came into being (some say it was Torlan, the power of Fate; some say it was Zahkaar, the power of Chaos—wars have been fought over this important issue). Its being naturally summoned its anti-being into existence, and they began to struggle. Time and the universe and everything in it is a consequence of that struggle. In the end, one of the Powers will vanquish the other, and time and the universe and everything in it will be swept away in that unending victory.
Those–who–know do not generally believe this. But there was no denying the existence of the Two Powers, nor their dreadful if ill–defined abilities, and sorcerers of every stripe of opinion generally gave them a wide berth. "Being an atheist is no protection," as Guelph the Many-Minded remarked on his scaffold, "if a god decides to believe in you."
Today, on the first day of the new year, the two gods had decided to believe in someone.
"Ambrosius," said Torlan, the power of Fate.
"Ambrosius," disagreed Zahkaar, the power of Chaos.
"We hate him," Torlan said.
"Hate," agreed Zahkaar reluctantly, then added, "I hated him first."
"Liar. Liar."
"You're the liar."
"All my decrees are true and eternal."
"True and eternal lies."
So the long day wore on. They enjoyed, insofar as they could enjoy anything, when they could disagree about something they agreed on. It made the inevitable cooperation less repugnant to their natures.
But the new quarrel, added to their endless ancient quarrel, did not stop them from executing the resolution arising from their clashing wills. They both hated Ambrosius. He would suffer for inspiring them to agree on anything.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A GUILE OF DRAGONS by James Enge Copyright © 2012 by James Enge. Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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