Forge of Heaven

Everything was a chain. And there were thousands of new things to learn.

“I think Farai is imagining this fish,” Hati said.

“I all but know he is,” Marak said quietly, but he never would deflate the boy’s enthusiasm. And, who knew? One might have ridden out the chute.

They were bound for the east, now, at a leisurely pace, while Meziq’s leg mended. The watchers in the heavens were back at their posts. The ondat,the Ila’s great enemies, had established their own tie to the watchers, but Procyon swore it was no great inconvenience to him; and meanwhile the ondat,like everyone else in the heavens, simply watched—absorbed, perhaps, in the news of a new sea, new weather, new wonders, in closer relationship with the world than before. There would be no war in the heavens, nor any more troubling by the Earth lord, who had settled into quiet, likewise touched by the ondat.

Hati understood the close call they had had. His youngest watcher went on adapting, having the good sense to deal softly with the ondat,having all the joy of life in him since his return, describing all the images he saw of the incoming sea.

He could hardly imagine where the boy was at the moment, in a building, in a structure, with this sister of his, at a celebration. Procyon was happy, and new as the morning: that was the bond they had between them. He had sons—he and Hati—sons and grandsons and great-grandsons in great number, besides their descendants; they were all familiar to him.

This one held surprises. Like the desert. Like the sea. This one broke the rules wisely. Like him. Like Hati.

Such a life was a treasure, when it appeared.

About the Author

C.J. Cherryh—three-time wi

The author of over fifty novels, she makes her home in Spokane, Washington.

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Credits

Jacket illustration by Bob Eggleton

Books by C. J. Cherryh

HAMMERFALL

FORTRESS OF

DRAGONS

FORTRESS OF

OWLS

FORTRESS OF

EAGLES

FORTRESS IN THE

EYE OF

TIME

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

FORGE OF HEAVEN. Copyright © 2004 by C. J. Cherryh. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition MAY 2004 ISBN: 9780061743900

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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