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.Too soon the halflight would dissolve into full darkness with only asmall sliver of a new moon to light my way.I should have at least another halfhour of twilight.Why was it so dark, sosoon?Magical power enfolded me the moment I placed my left foot on the path,directly in front of my right.I couldn t turn back now if I tried.Thedriving wind died.I was on my own.The path veered sharply right.I teetered, almost lost my balance, one footand both arms waving wildly.With all of my will, I forced my foot back downonto the path.My senses centered again and I move downward.I saw torchlightcrest the first rampart.I had to hurry.Strange.Demons shouldn t need fire to light their way.I didn t have time tothink the problem through.The lights crept forward.Deep voices howled.Nine steps to the next lefthand turn.Nine more steps and I sped along theoutermost line of the labyrinth.Only a very thin wall of power separated mefrom reality.I wasn t sure if the demons could reach through it or not.Ninemore steps and I faced a curving turn to the left.I raised my left foot tostep into the turn.The path darkened abruptly, hiding the white chalk that Ifollowed.A lightning jolt of power shoved me backward.My arms flailed.Hastily I set my left foot back where it had been, behind my right.What hadI done wrong?Begin again, a voice whispered in the back of my head.My father s voice.Amemory or instructions?I couldn t step out of the maze and start over.I had to keep going.Thedemons let out a mighty howl of triumph as they spotted me.They ran towardme, ahead of their bobbing lights.Knowing I had to follow the path correctly, without backtracking or steppingoff the chalky line, I closed my eyes and searched for the power that blockedme.Energy pushed back against my seeking hand.A deterrent, not a barricade.Keeping my eyes closed I stepped forward, this time on my right foot, as I hadbegun the maze.The energy dissolved.I took another careful step forward.Six demons approached me.They reachedfor me with talonlike fingers.They caught the hem of my gown.I yanked itfree of their grasp, hearing cloth tear.The demons screamed his rage at myescape.His voice echoed across the rolling hills, shaking my senses andnumbing my ears.I ran forward, seeking the center with all my senses.I still had threequarters of the maze to traverse.With a determined screech, another demon ran across the plateau and launchedhimself through the wall of power.His penis bobbed with each step.Alarm shotthrough me.Some demons had elongated and engorged genitals, others had nosex.All of them had a lump at the base of their spines vestigal tails.Thisone had the normal size and shape of a human.He landed facedown behind me, inside the labyrinth.Inside the labyrinth?How? How could he penetrate that far without having walked the pathway first?He scrambled to his knees, adjusting his face.Not a face.A mask.A hideousmask made to look like a demon.A naked man leered at me and stretched hisarms wide.Two long strides across the turf and he captured me within thosearms.He held me securely with a warrior s strong muscles.I must have fainted.When I opened my eyes, a blindingly bright bonfire burned before me.Dazzled by the flare of fire, I threw my arm up to ward against the glare.MyPage 85ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlarm wouldn t move.My shoulders screamed in pain at the movement.I twistedand fought whatever held me in place.The fire flared again, revealing eightnaked men in demon masks and deer antlers, in imitation of Cernunnos, dancingaround the fire.The face of the horned god of the Underworld seemed outlinedin the flames.Magical power shot upward with each new flare of fire.Theninth man chuckled behind me as he jerked my bound hands upward and tied themto the upright pole that pressed against my back.Drums throbbed in thedistance, matching my rapid heartbeat.I couldn t look away from the nakedmen.They wore human torcs and their masks nothing else.Nothing hid theirvirile arousal.The man who had tied me stepped between the fire and me.Hetowered over me.His wellmuscled shoulders stretched through the uncertainlight, seemingly without end.His penis stood proudly erect, moist and ready.I shrank away from him.Heclasped my jaw within a huge fist and pressed it upward, stretching my neck.Pain shot down my spine.The drums intensified, filling the center of themoldering fortress with an almost tangible sound until they blotted outthought.The noise and the power came from everywhere and nowhere, beating anodd tempo with no discernible rhythm.A sense of insatiable hunger pulsed withthe drum.More, it demanded.More.More what?I smelled blood and greed.Fear washed over me in waves.My body lost allstrength and coordination [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]