"Cook, Glen - The Tower of Fear" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Glen)

Fa'tad al-Akla himself! Fa'tad the Eagle, commander of all the Dartar mercenaries, bloodthirsty as a vampire, merciless as a hungry snake. What was he doing? Making himself a target for the Living?

Of course not. Was he not supposed to know as little of fear as the desert windstorms that brewed over the Takes and raged north over the Khadatqa Mountains and beyond, to inundate Qush-marrah with dust and torment it with a ferocious dry heat? Fa'tad al-Akla held the Living in contempt.

Aaron thought them quixotic at best. But he also believed they were going to kill Fa'tad, and he did not think it would be long before the dark angel brushed the Eagle with the shadow of his wing.

Ahead, in front of the house, he saw Laella and her mother. They were not bereaved. His heart spread white wings. Then it soared as he spied Arif.

His son was all right! The nightmare had not come true!

Arif saw him coming and ran to meet him. He snatched the boy up and surrounded him in a hug almost brutal in its intensity. Arif squealed, surprised. People stared. It was not a culture that encouraged emotional display.

Arif wanted to tell him all the news but he had squeezed the breath out of the boy.

Aaron joined Laella and her mother. His wife had Stafa, their younger son, seated upon her left hip. Stafa was midway between his second and third birthdays, and on his better days he was happy mischief incarnate. Arif was, by contrast, a quiet child, often seeming sad.

The younger boy reached out. "I want some Daddy hugs."

Aaron reached and let him monkey over to sit on the hip opposite Arif, grinning. Aaron told Laella, "I heard. I was afraid it was Arif."

There was pain and relief and guilt in Laella's eyes as she said, "No. It was Zouki. Reyha's Zouki."

"Oh."

Laella's mother watched Fa'tad with the fixity and dispassionate intensity of a vulture waiting for. a corpse to cool out. "They went after him."

Aaron turned. "What?"

"The Dartar patrol. They were right here when Zouki was taken. Not much more than boys themselves. The children screamed 'Bedija gha!' and the Dartars went after the taker."

She sounded amazed. As if so human a thing was beyond comprehension if done by the villains of Dak-es-Souetta.

"And?"

Laella said, "Three went in Tosh Alley. And they caught him." She did not sound joyful.

"Something bad happened?"

"They were all burned when they brought them out. Not dead. Not really bad hurt. But one of them's clothes was smoldering."

Aaron grunted.

"Aaron, something has to be done."

He grunted again. He agreed. But he did not know what could be done. There had been talk among the men, but it never went beyond that. One could do nothing when one did not know which way to strike.

The old woman muttered something.

"Mother?" Aaron asked.