"Dragonlance - Deathgate 5 - The Hand Of Chaos - uc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragonlance)

We barely escaped Abarrach with our lives.3 When we left, the Sartan on that dreadful world were busy destroying each other, turning the living into lazarЧdead bodies whose souls are eternally trapped inside their lifeless shells. Different from the ambulating corpses, the lazar are far more dangerous, for they have minds and purposeЧdark and dread purpose.

I was glad to leave such a world. Once inside Death's Gate, I let Alfred go his way, as I went mine. He had, after all, saved my life. And I was sick of death, of pain, of suffering. I'd seen enough.

I knew well what Xar would do to Alfred, if my lord got hold of him.

CHELESTRA

I returned to the Nexus, made my report on Abarrach to my lord in the form of a message, for I feared that if I had to face Xar, I could not hide the truth from him. But Xar knew I lied. He sought me out before 1 had a chance to escape from the Nexus. He chastised me, very nearly killed me. I deserved the punishment. The physical pain I endured was far easier to bear than the pain of my guilt. I ended up telling Xar everything I had found on Abarrach. I told him about the art of necromancy, about the Chamber of the Damned, about the higher power.

My lord forgave me. I felt cleansed, whole. All my questions had been answered. I once more knew my purpose, my goal. They were Xar's. I was Xar's. I traveled to ChelcstraЧ the world of waterЧstrong in my resolve to renew my lord's faith in me.

And here an odd circumstance occurred. The dogЧmy constant companion ever since he saved my life in the Laby-

3 Fire Sea, vol. 3 of The Death Gate Cycle.

THE HAND OF CHAOS xxi

rinthЧdisappeared. I searched for the beast, for though he is a nuisance sometimes, I'd grown used to having him around. He was gone. I felt bad about this, but only for a while. I had more important matters on my mind.

Chelestra is a world comprised solely of water. Drifting in the cold depths of space, its outer surface is made up of solid ice. But inside Chelestra, the Sartan placed a sun that burns magically in the water, lights and warms the world's interior.

The Sartan intended to control the sun, but they discovered that they lacked the power. And so the sun drifts freely through the water, warming only certain areas of Chelestra at one time, leaving others to freeze until the sun's return. Mensch live on Chelestra, on what are known as seamoons. Sartan live on Chelestra, as well, although I did not know this at first.

My arrival on Chelestra was not propitious. My ship plunged into the water and instantly began breaking apart. The destruction was astonishing, since my ship was protected by rune-magic on the outside and very few forcesЧcertainly not ordinary seawaterЧcould break down the powerful runes.

Unfortunately, this was not ordinary seawater.

I was forced to abandon my vessel and found myself swimming in a vast, unending ocean. I knew I must surely drown, but I discoveredЧto my pleasure and amazementЧthat I could breathe the water as easily as I breathed air. 1 also discoveredЧwith far less pleasureЧthat the water had the effect of completely destroying my rune-magic, leaving me powerless, helpless as a mensch.

On Chelestra, I uncovered additional evidence of a higher power. However, this power is not working for good, but for evil. It thrives on fear, feeds on terror, delights in inflicting pain. It lives only to promote chaos, hatred, destruction.

Embodied in the forms of enormous dragon-snakes, the evil power very nearly seduced me into serving it. I was saved by three mensch children, one of whom later died in my arms. I saw the evil for what it was. I came to understand that it was intent on destroying everythingЧincluding my people.

I determined to fight it, though I knew I could not win against it. This power is immortal. It lives within each of us. We created it.

At first, I thought I fought alone, but someone joined me in the battleЧmy friend, my enemy.

Alfred, too, had arrived on Chelestra, at about the same

xxii WEIS AND HICKMAN

time I did, although we landed in far different places. Alfred found himself in a crypt similar to the one where most of his people lay dead on Arianus. But the people in the crypt on Chelestra were aliveЧthe Sartan Council, those who had been responsible for the sundering of the world centuries ago.

Threatened by the evil dragon-snakes, unable to fight them due to the fact that the seawater nullified their magic, the Sartan sent out a call for help to their brethren. Then they placed themselves in suspended animation to await the coming of other Sartan.

The only one who cameЧand he did so by accidentЧwas Alfred.

Needless to say, he was not quite what the Council expected.