"Brooks - Heritage 4 - The Talismans of Shannara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

I

Busk settled down about the Four Lands, a slow graying
of light, a gradual lengthening of shadows. The swelter
of the late summer's day began to fade as the sun's red
fireball sank into the west and the hot, stale air cooled. The
hush that comes with day's end stilled the earth, and leaves
and grass shivered with expectation at the coming of night.

At the mouth of the Mermidon where it emptied into the
Rainbow Lake, Southwatch rose blackly, impenetrable and
voiceless. The wind brushed the waters of the lake and river,
yet did not approach the obelisk, as if anxious to hurry on to
some place mere inviting. The air shimmered about the dark
tower, heat radiating from its stone in waves, forming spectral
images that darted and flew. A solitary hunter at the water's
edge glanced up apprehensively as he passed and continued
swiftly on.

Within, the Shadowen went about their tasks in ghostly si-
lence, cowled and faceless and filled with purpose.

Rimmer Dall stood at a window looking out on the darken-
ing countryside, watching the color fade from the earth as the
night crept stealthily out of the east to gather in its own.

The night, our mother, our comfort.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, rigid
within his dark robes, cowl pulled back from his rawboned,
red-bearded face. He looked hard and empty of feeling, and
had he cared he would have been pleased. But it had been a
long time since his appearance had mattered to the First
SeekerЧa long time since he had bothered even to wonder.
2

2 The Talismans of Shannara

His outside was of no consequence; he could be anything he
chose. What burned within mattered. That gave him life.

His eyes glittered as he looked beyond what he was seeing
to what one day would be.
To what was promised.

He shifted slightly, alone with his thoughts in the tower's si-
lence. The others did not exist for him, wraiths without sub-
stance. Below, deep within the bowels of the tower, he could
hear the sounds of the magic at work, the deep hum of its
breathing, the rumble of its heart. He listened for it without