"Brooks - Heritage 2 -The Druid of Shannara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

words, trying anew to decipher their meaning. The Grimpond
had not named the-Hall of Kings in describing where the Black
Elfstone could be found. Had Walker simply jumped to the
wrong conclusion? Had he been deliberately misled? Was there
any truth in what he had been told?

Walker's thoughts scattered in confusion, and his mind re-
fused to respond to the demands he placed on it. He closed his
eyes in despair, and it was with great difficulty that he forced
them open again. His clothes were'chill and damp with his own
sweat, and his body shivered within them. His breathing was

10 The Druid of Shannara

ragged, his vision blurred, and it was growing increasingly dif-
ficult to swallow. So many distractionsЧhow could he think?
He wanted simply to lie down and . . .

He panicked, feeling the urgency of his need threaten to swal-
low him up. He shifted his body, forcing his knees to scrape
against the stone until they bled. A little more pain might help
keep me awake, he thought. Yet he could barely feel it.

He forced his thoughts back to the Grimpond. He envisioned
the wraith laughing at his plight, taking pleasure at it. He heard
the taunting voice calling out to him. Anger gave him a measure
of strength. There was something that he needed to recall, he
thought desperately. There was something that the Grimpond
had told him that he must remember.

Please, don't let me fall asleep!

The Hall of Kings did not respond to the urgency of his plea;

the statues remained silent, disinterested, and oblivious. The

mountain waited.

/ have to break free! he howled wordlessly.
And then he remembered the visions, or more specifically
the first of the three that the Grimpond had shown him, the one
in which he had stood on a cloud above the others of the little
company that had gathered at the Hadeshom in answer to the
summons of the shade ofAllanon, the one in which he had said
that he would sooner cut off his hand than bring back the Druids
and then lifted his arm to show that he had done exactly that.
He remembered the vision and recognized its truth.
He banished the reaction it provoked in horrified disbelief
and let his head droop until it was resting on the cavern stone.
He cried, feeling the tears run down his cheeks, the sides of his