"Troy Denning - Return of the Archwizards 2 - The Siege" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denning Troy)

Galaeron rolled into an easy backstroke. "How long did they take to capture
the Sharaedim? Five daysтАФfive days to take what Evereska has held for fifteen
centuries." A hand came down on the edge of a mineral pad, shattering the
whole thing and sending it fluttering to the lake's milky bottom. He appeared
not to notice. "If I can find this place, they can find this place."

"There is a difference between can and have, elf." It took a moment to
recognize the raspy voice. While Prince Escanor was ten places away splicing
strands into the shadow curtain, his magic made him sound as though he were in
the water beside them. "If the phaerimm were here, they would have attacked by
now."
"The phaerimm are hereтАФthey must beтАФand have they attacked?" Galaeron asked,
facing the prince. "No, they haven't. So, you're wrong. Absolutely wrong."
Escanor's copper-glowing eyes flared. "How am I wrong, elf?" He began to
wade toward them, a bugbear-sized silhouette limned in silver spell-light
"Explain."
Galaeron looked as though he were about to answer, then he cocked his head
and, passing within a lance-length of an astonished shadow lord, vanished
through a breach in the curtain. Vala followed as quickly as she was able, but
the steel greaves on her shins made her slow. Escanor, swimming as well, beat
her through the gap. She cringed at what was likely to follow. One did not
ignore a prince of Shade Enclave.
Vala passed through the gap and found them standing close together in the
shallows, Galaeron's lean form submerged to the waist and Escanor's to the
knees. Like all the shadow lords, the prince was swarthy and powerful, with a
mouthful of ceremonial fangs and a long, raw-boned face that lent a demonic
aura to an already otherworldly mystique. They were standing close together,
speaking intensely but quietly.
"... are spell collectors," Galaeron was saying. He sounded less irrational
but just as intense. "They haven't attacked because they want to watch the
Splicing."
"You suggest they're spying on us?" Escanor asked.
"If I can learn to use shadow magic, why can't the phaerimm?" Galaeron
replied. "If they understand it, they control it."

"What you say stands to reason, as far as it goes." Escanor glanced over as
Vala touched bottom beside them, then looked back to Galaeron. "But if the
phaerimm were here, we would have detected their magic. They cannot hide that
from us."
"Only phaerimm know what the phaerimm can do," Galaeron said. He was looking
past the prince into the darkness, studying it as though he could find the
enemy by sheer force of will. "And only a fool would believe otherwise."
Escanor's eyes brightened to a fiery red. "Watch that tongue, elf. A shadow
crisis excuses only so much."
Vala slipped between the two, placing her back to Escanor and raising a hand
to silence the elf before he could make a retort. "Galaeron, you know better.
The Shadovar have killed more phaerimm than all of Evereska's High Mages
together, and Prince Escanor has slain three personally. If there is a fool
here, it is the one who speaks to him as though he were some Waterdhavian
pikesman on his first march beyond the city gate."