"Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - Mageworlds 05 - The Long Hunt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

wished that he had dared to walk abroad in the Adept-worlds in his proper garments, and not with his
staff alone. He would have felt safer wearing the enveloping robe that blurred all question of rank or
person outside the Circle, and the mask that narrowed the outside vision and made the threads of the
universe easier to find and grasp. He could see them now, the eiran-the silver cords of life and
luck-tangled and leading off in all directions.
And tarnished, some of them, which is a thing that should not be.
Which is a thing that the First must know.
The light drew closer. Mael saw now that it was coming from a man, a cloaked and hooded
man-but not from any light or lantern. Instead, the entire figure was glowing, and the tarnished cords
seemed to draw closer to the apparition and knot themselves around it. The man halted an arm's length
away at the edge of the trail, his face a shadow underneath the hood. Only his eyes glittered in the pale
green light.
The man spoke in the language of Eraasi. "What you seek to do, I will prevent."
He raised his hands and cast back his hood, and Mael saw that the face within was nothing but
an empty skull. Rotting shreds of flesh and patches of matted hair stretched across the bony cranium, and
the hands were skeletal and thin. But the eye sockets burned with their own lurid light.
Mael brought his staff to the guard before him. "Homeless one," he said. "Nightwalker. Go away
from here and trouble me no longer."
The ghost-man laughed and brought up his right hand to strike at Mael's face. Mael swept his
staff up and inward, blocking the attack. The polished ironwood of the staff passed through the man's
arm as if through fog, and the blow kept on coming.
At that moment, a scream sounded from the woods behind Mael. He half-turned, distracted from
the specter by the urgency of the cry-and saw, by the flickering light of his staff, a tall, fur-covered beast
rearing up, its gaping mouth lined with fangs, and in front of the beast a young, fair-haired man with one
hand buried deep in the creature's belly.
Man and beast stood together for an instant like a tableau. Then the youth pulled back his hand,
all black with blood in the pale green witchlight, and Mael saw that he had a heavy-bladed knife a double
hands-breadth long gripped in his fist.
The furry creature, man-tall, crumpled to the ground. "Rufstaffa," the young man said, wiping his
blade on the animal's fur before sheathing it. "They aren't all that dangerous, but the only way to kill one is
to go in through the diaphragm up to the heart, and the only time you can get there is when it's attacking."
He stuck out his blood-covered hand to Mael.
"I'm Jens, by the way," he said. "Aunt Llann asked me to come see if you'd gotten lost."
Mael returned the handclasp, feeling somewhat bemused. "You didn't happen to see another
man, standing over about thereтАж?" He gestured. As he had expected, the apparition was gone.
Jens shook his head. "Just you. And we'd better get moving-that rufstaffa was trailing you for the
last three miles. Rufstaffas travel alone, but there's usually a slam of rockhogs following after."
"Rockhogs?"
"Scavengers. They aren't really dangerous either, but you don't want to be around them when
they get into a feeding frenzy."
He pulled a hand torch from his belt and flicked it on. In the clear white light, the path seemed
more open, and Mael could see his footing. The two set off together at an easy pace.
Mael followed his guide along the uphill path, sorting out the young man's names and lineage in
his mind as he did so: Jens Metadi-Jessan in the short form common among the Adept-worlders; by
Eraasian reckoning, syn-Metadi and sus-Rosselin both in his mother's line. He carried the weight of all
that lineage lightly enough. In his plain trousers and his leather soft-boots, he could have been a
backcountry youth from Mael's own homeworld-if somewhat taller and fairer than most.
"Mistress Hyfid knew I was coming?" Mael asked after a bit.
"So did everyone in the valley," Jens said. "The trail is easy to spot from up on the bluffs. Watch
it now, the path gets a little tricky here."