"Troy Denning - Dark Sun - The Prism Pentad 05 - The Cerulean Storm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denning Troy)

first.
Which ones? asked the servant.
All of them: half-elves, mills, half-giants, every filthy abomination produced through an unnatural
union. We must kill them as soon as possible.
As you wish.
The New Races come next, Rajaat continued, knotting the barbed talons of both hands into tight
fists. There are so many! It may take us a century.
We must expect opposition, Khidar warned. Sadira and Rikus-
Are half-breeds. They'll die with the others! the skeleton pronounced. I'll destroy them as soon as I
finish with the sorcerer-kings.
What of the Usurper? asked Khidar. Will you make him a sorcerer-king?
 Yes, I'll keep my promise, provided he honors the cause of the Pristine Tower, Rajaat answered.
And if he betrays us like Borys and the others?
My new champion will never do such a thing, the skeleton replied. After he witnesses the fate of the
other traitors, he will not dare. would have been wrong to call the thing huge. In this place, size had no
meaning. Only existence mattered, and by the mere fact that it was, the skeleton occupied all of the vast
emptiness inside the egg.
The skeleton scratched at the murky shell with long barbed talons, dreaming of the day it would be
reborn. For the first time in an eternity, it felt confident of escaping its timeless prison. Forks of lightning
circled its misshapen skull like a crown. Sparks danced in the empty sockets where once it had
possessed eyes.
Beneath the scratching talons appeared a pair of blue embers and a long slitlike mouth. The features
were all the skeleton ever saw of its servants. The shadow people were part of the Black, as trapped
within the dark shell as their master was inside the emptiness of the egg.
We felt your summons, Omnipotent One.
The servant used thought-speech to report, for sound did not exist within the skeleton's eternal
prison.
I have been thinking, Khidar, the skeleton replied. It slowly twisted its oblong skull around to
stare more directly into the shadow's eyes. The sorcerer-kings must be near when the Usurper frees
me.
That's too dangerous! The servant's eyes grew larger and brighter. The six of them have grown
stronger than you know, Rajaat. They'll destroy us!
A ball of lightning formed above Rajaat's head. They won't destroy me! he snarled. If you hesitate to
sacrifice a few lives so I may return Athas to its greater glory, perhaps you should remain in the Black.
Khidar winced, his eyes and mouth sliding down the inside of the black shell. Our fates are bound
together, he said, with more regret than enthusiasm. We have no concern except the future of Athas.
Never forget that, Rajaat hissed, the blue rays in his empty eye sockets flickering in ire. Think of all
that I have sacrificed to return the world to your people, and follow my example.
We are most grateful, Khidar assured him. We'll see to whatever you wish.
Good. It would be best to avenge the sorcerer-kings' betrayal before proceeding with the
Restoration, Rajaat said. The lightning began to crackle more steadily and calmly over his head. After
that, we'll cleanse Athas of the most profane strains of the degenerate races. The half-breeds shall die
first.
Which ones? asked the servant.
All of them: half-elves, muls, half-giants, every filthy abomination produced through an unnatural
union. We must kill them as soon as possible.
As you wish.
The New Races come next, Rajaat continued, knotting the barbed talons of both hands into tight
fists. There are so many! It may take us a century.
We must expect opposition, Khidar warned. Sadira and Rikus-