"Brooks,.Terry.-.Word03.-.Angel.Fire.East" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

[Version 1.0 - January 8, 2002 - scanned, OCR'ed, spell-checked
and reformatted. If you find any errors, please correct, repost and
increment version number by 0.1. If you re-post, please use a file-
format which supports italics. Italics are used throughout the text
to give emphasis, or denote thoughts/dreams.]




Angel Fire East
by Terry Brooks



Sequel to Running with the Demon, and Knight of the Word.







TO MY FATHER, DEAN BROOKS

Who made sacrifices as an aspiring writer then so that I could be a
published writer now.


PROLOGUE

He stands at the edge of a barren and ravaged orchard looking up
from the base of a gentle rise to where the man hangs from a
wooden cross. Iron spikes have been hammered through the ma n'
s hands and feet, and his wrists and ankles have been lashed
tightly in place so he will not tear free. Slash wounds crisscross his
broken body, and he bleeds from a deep puncture in his side. His
head droops in the shadow of his long, lank hair, and the rise and
fall of his chest as he breathes is shallow and weak.

Behind him, serving as a poignant backdrop to the travesty of his
dying, stands the fire-blackened shell of a tiny, burned-out country
church. The cross from which the man hangs has been stripped
from the sanctuary, torn free from the metal brackets that secured
it to the wall behind the altar, and set into the earth. Patches of
polished oak glisten faintly in the gray daylight, attesting to the
importance it was once accorded in the worshipping of God.

Somewhere in the distance, back where the little town that once