"Dragonlance - Deathgate Cycle 06 - Into the Labyrinth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Deathgate Cycle)

"Afraid of me, no doubt," Xar said offhandedly. "He fears nothing, Lord of the Nexus!" Kleitus laughed unpleasantly. "He is the one of whom the prophecy speaks."

"I heard about a prophecy." Xar waved a negligent hand. "Haplo said something about it. He viewed prophecies much as I view them, however. Wishes, nothing more. I give them little credence."

"You should give this one credence, Patryn. So the prophecy is spoken: 'He wilt bring life to the dead, hope to the living, and for him the Gate wilt open.' That is the prophecy. And it has come to pass."

"...come to pass."

"Yes, it has come to pass," Xar echoed the echo. "I am the one who has brought the prophecy to fulfillment. It speaks of me, not some perambulating corpse."

"I think not..."

"...think not."

"Of course it has!" Xar said irritably. " 'The Gate will open...' The Gate has opened."

"Death's Gate has opened."

"What other gate is there?" Xar demanded, annoyed and only half-listening, hoping to steer the conversation back to where it had started.

"The Seventh Gate," Kleitus replied.

And this time the echo was silent. Xar glanced up, wondering what was the matter with it.

"Your talk of armies, of conquest, of traveling from world to world... What a waste of time and effort." Kleitus gave a rictus smile, "When all you need to do is step inside the Seventh Gate."

"Indeed?" Xar frowned. "I have been through many gates in my lifetime. What is so special about this one?"

"It was inside this chamberЧthe Seventh GateЧthat the Council of Seven sundered the world."

"...sundered the world."

Xar sat silent. He was stunned. The implications, the possibilities... if Kleitus was right. If he was telling the truth. If this place still existed...

"It exists," said Kleitus,

"Where is this... chamber?" Xar asked, testing, still not entirely believing the lazar.

Kleitus appeared to ignore the question. The lazar turned to face the bookcases that lined the library. His dead eyesЧoccasionally alight with the flitting soulЧ searched for something. At last his withered hand, still stained with the blood of those it had murdered, reached out and lifted a small, thin volume. He tossed the book on the desk in front of Xar.

"Read," Kleitus said.

"...read," came the sad refrain.

"It looks like a children's primer," Xar said, examining it with some disdain. He had himself used books like these, found in the Nexus, to teach the Sartan runes to the mensch child Bane.

"It is," said Kleitus. "It comes from the days when our own children were alive and laughing. Read."

Xar studied the book suspiciously. It appeared to be genuine. It was old, extremely oldЧto judge by the musty smell and brittle, yellowed parchment. Carefully, fearful that the pages might crumble to dust at a touch, he opened the leather cover, read silently to himself.