First King of Shannara Terry Brooks

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afterward for a time, then had it set in a block of Tre-Stone, taken to Paranor, and placed the Druid s
Keep.
Kinson Ravenlock did not die from his wounds, but recovered after weeks of convalescence in the
fledgling outpost of Tyrsi. Mareth stayed at his side and cared for him, and when he was well enough
they traveled west along the Mermidon to a wooded island in the shadow of the Dragon s Teeth, where
they made their home.
They lived together afterward and eventually married. They farmed, then built a trading center and
opened a supply route along the river. Others from the Borderlands moved up to join them, and soon
they were in the midst of a thriving community. In time the trading settlement would become the city of
Kem.
Mareth never again used her magic in the Druid cause. She turned her skills instead to healing and was
widely sought after throughout the Four Lands. She took Kinson s name when she married him, and
there was never afterward any mention of her own. Kinson worried after her for a long time, thinking her
magic would break free again, that it would undermine her resolve, but it never did. They had several
children, and long after they were gone a child born of their lineage would figure prominently in another
battle with the Warlock Lord.
Raybur survived and returned home with the Dwarves to begin the arduous task of rebuilding
Culhaven and the other cities the Northland army had destroyed. He took Risca with him and buried the
Druid in the newly replanted Gardens of Life, high on a promontory where it was possible to watch the
Silver River flow for miles through the forests of the Anar.
The Northland army was virtually annihilated that day on the Streleheim. Those Trolls and Gnomes
who had fled earlier from the Valley ofRhenn eventually found their way home. The power of the
Warlock Lord was broken, and the Races north and east began the painful process of rebuilding their
shattered lives. Both Gnome and Troll nations, tribal by nature, distanced themselves from the other
Races, and for a time there was little contact. It would be more than a hundred years before a form of
parity returned between victors and vanquished and commerce could be resumed on an equal footing.
Bremen disappeared soon after the final battle. No one saw him go. No one knew where he went. He
said goodbye to Mareth, and through her to a still unconscious Kinson. He told the young woman that he
would not see either one of them again. There were rumors afterward that he had returned to Paranor to
live out the last years of his life. Kinson thought sometimes to go in search of him, to find out the truth of
things. But he never did.
Jerle Shannara saw him once more, less than a month after the battle at the Rhenn, late at night for only
a few minutes when the old man came to Arborlon to spirit away the Black Elfstone. They spoke of the
talisman in whispers, as if the words themselves were too painful to bear, as if even mention of the dark
magic might scar their souls.
That was the last time anyone saw him.
The boy Allanon disappeared as well.
Slowly the world returned to the way it had been, and memories of the Warlock Lord began to fade.
Three years passed. On a late summer s day warm and bright with sunshine, an old man and a boy
climbed through the foothills of the Dragon s Teeth toward the Valley of Shale. Bremen was wizened and
bent with age now, and the gray of his hair and beard had gone white. He no longer moved easily, and
his eyes were beginning to fail. Allanon was fifteen, taller and much stronger, his shoulders broad, his
arms and legs rangy and powerful Already he was approaching manhood, his face beginning to reveal the
dark shadow of a beard, his voice deep and rough. By now he was nearly Bremen s equal in use of the
Druid magic. But it was the old man who led and the boy who followed on their last journey together.
For three years Allanon had trained with Bremen. The old man had accepted that the boy would
succeed him when he was gone, that Allanon would be the last of the Druids. Tay and Risca were dead,
and Mareth had chosen another path. The boy was young, but he was eager to learn and it was clear
from the first that he possessed the determination and strength necessary to become what he must.
Bremen worked with him every day for those three years, teaching him what he knew of the magic of the
Druids and the secrets of their power, giving him the chance to experiment and to discover. Allanon was
fierce in this as in all things, single-minded almost to a fault, driven to succeed. He was smart and intuitive,
and his prescience did not diminish with his growth. Frequently Allanon saw what was hidden from the
old man, his sharp mind grasping possibilities that even the Druid had not recognized. He stayed with
Bremen at Paranor, the two of them closeted away from the world, studying the Druid Histories,
practicing the lessons that the ancient tomes taught. Bremen used his magic to conceal their presence in
the empty fortress from others. No one came to disturb them. No one sought to intrude. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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