"Kerr, Katharine - Dragon Mage 02 - Black Raven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

СThatТs quite enough.Т
СAnd then,Т Evandar went inexorably on, Сthe elephant.Т
Dallandra goggled at him.
СAn elephant, my love,Т Evandar said, grinning, Сis an enormous beast. Not quite so big as a dragon, but large enough. It has a thick grey hide, a pair of huge ears, and then a long nose that acts like a hand. It picks things up,Т
СI donТt care about its nose. You canТt bring it here.Т
СI did come to that conclusion.Т He went on grinning. СSo where, my love, shall I bring it and all the rest of them?Т
СI havenТt the slightest idea. Let me think on it.Т Dallandra paused for a sigh that came out more like a growl. IТm beginning to understand why the very mention of Salamander made Jill furious.Т
СIndeed? Here, Salamander claims that Jill cursed him when they parted, but frankly, I canТt believe it of her.Т
СNo more can I. How very very odd! IТll ask Rhodry what he thinks.Т
СDo that, if youТd be so kind.Т Evandar frowned down at the filthy snow. СAnd now IТd best be off again. IТve a great many concerns these days, and they seem to have got themselves all tangled in my mind.Т
From Cengarn Evandar took to the mothers of all roads. It seemed to him that he walked on the north wind like a long grey path in the sky. When he travelled between worlds, he heard now and again scattered words and snatches of conversations, and at other times he saw visions in brief glimpses, as if he looked through windows into the future, a vast shadowed room. Today, however, the omens shunned him. The silence irked; he found himself pausing to listen, but all he ever heard was the whistle and churn of the air, and all he saw were clouds.
When he left the north windТs road, he found himself at the edge of the forest that marked the border of his own true country. Instead of crossing it, he turned to his right and found a path that led into a scatter of boulders. As he strode along, the air grew colder; suddenly the sky turned grey, and snow fell in a scatter of flakes. It seemed that he was walking downhill; below him in the sunset light Loc Vaedd gleamed, a green jewel set in snow. Evandar took another step and found himself standing on CitadelТs peak among the wind-twisted trees, the highest point of Cerr Cawnen, a city of circles. In the middle stood the rocky peak of Citadel Island. Around it stretched the blue-green lake, fed by hot springs and thus free of ice even in the dead of winter. At the edge of the lake on crannogs and shore stood the tangled houses of the city proper, while around them ran a huge circle of stone walls, where the town militia guarded shut gates. Just the summer before, Cerr Cawnen had received a warning that the savage Horsekin tribes of the far north were on the move, and such warnings were best attended to.
In fact, even though the town drowsed in blessed ignorance, a human being lived among them who spied for the Horsekin. Some twenty feet below EvandarТs perch, on the east side of CitadelТs peak a tunnel mouth gaped among tumbled chunks of stone and broken masonry. It led to an ancient temple, cracked and half-buried by an earthquake a long while previous. Evandar started to go down, but he saw the spy - Raena, her name was Ч climbing up the path from the town below. He stepped back into the trees to avoid her. Even though she was young and pretty in a fleshy sort of way, she walked bent over like an old woman as she struggled up the slope in her long cloak. When at the tunnel mouth she paused to pull her dark hair back from her face, Evandar could see the livid marks like bruises under her eyes and the pallor of her skin. Quite possibly Shaetano was using her as wood to fuel his fires even as she thought she was using him to serve her Horsekin masters.
Raena climbed down into the tunnel. Evandar waited a long moment, then shrank his form and turned himself into a large black dog. His nails clicked on stone as he followed her in. After a few yards the tunnel turned dark enough to hide him, but ahead, through the big split in the wall that formed the entrance to the temple room, he could see the silver glow of RaenaТs dweomer light. He stopped to one side of the narrow entrance and listened, head cocked to one side, ears pricked, long tongue lolling. At first he heard nothing but RaenaТs voice, chanting in a long wail and rise; then Shaetano joined her, speaking in the dialect of the Rhiddaer.
СWhat would you have of me, O my priestess?Т
СTo worship thee, Lord Havoc, O great one, and beg for knowledge.Т
Evandar growled, then let himself expand until he could take back his normal elven form.
СAll my knowledge shall be yours,Т Shaetano was saying. СWhat wouldst thou learn?Т
СOne riddle does make my heart burn within me. Where does she dwell now, my Alshandra? Why will she not come to me again? Why has she deserted me, my own true goddess, she whom I worship above all other gods?Т
СAh, this be a matter most recondite and admirable. Far far beyond what you would call the world does she dwell, in an ineffable refulgence,Т
Evandar stepped through the opening. Dressed all in black, one arm raised in a dramatic flourish, Shaetano stood before a kneeling Raena.
СYou might at least speak clearly,Т Evandar remarked. СHow is the poor woman supposed to understand nonsense like that?Т
Raena screamed. ShaetanoТs form wavered, as if he were about to step onto a Mother-road and disappear, then held steady as he held his ground. Evandar turned to Raena with a sigh.
СShe never was a goddess, woman!Т Evandar snapped. СAnd now sheТs dead. You were there, you saw her die.Т
СI saw naught of the sort!Т Raena scrambled to her feet. СShe did but return to her own country. And she be a goddess. I do ken this deep in my heart, you stinking blasphemer! And she lives, I do ken that she lives still. Who are you, that lies like maggots fall from your lips?Т
СI am Lord Harmony,Т Evandar said to her. СAnd your Lord Havoc is my brother. Flee this place! Leave us!Т
Raena hesitated. Evandar raised a hand and called down the blue etheric fire, leaping and flashing at his fingertips. Raena squealed, then edged past him to squeeze through the entrance. He could hear her footsteps as she dashed down the tunnel. When he turned back, Shaetano was leaning insolently against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. In the shifting silver light he looked very like a fox in manТs clothing. Russet hair sprouted from his face; his ears stood up sharply on the top of his head; his nose was black and shiny. Only his eyes were fully elven, a shifting gold and green.
СMore and more you become your avatar, brother,Т Evandar said.
Shaetano swore. For a moment his image wavered; when it stabilized, his ears had migrated back to the sides of his head, and his skin was smooth, with only a roach of red hair pluming on his skull. His shiny black nose, however, seemed permanently fox, twitching a little in the cold damp air.
СThatТs better,Т Evandar said. СNow then, I want a word with you. Though IТll admit to being surprised youТll stay and listen to it.Т
СYou canТt kill me. DonТt you remember what you said, that day upon the battle plain? You and I were born joined. You were the candle flame and I the shadow it cast? Well, elder brother,Т Shaetano paused for a smile, Сif you kill me, who knows what will happen to you?Т
СHere! How do you know that? I was talking with Dalla, and you were long gone by then,Т
СI have my ways.Т He curled a hand that was more like a paw and smiled at his black claws. СAnd my allies.Т
СAh, I see. Your little raven was spying even then, was she? Very well. Say it I did. You learn your lessons well.Т
СAnd havenТt you been my most excellent teacher?Т Again that smug smile. СSo talk away. What is it that you want with me now? IТll listen, though I may not answer.Т
Evandar restrained the impulse to strangle him there and then, even if his own neck twisted.
СAsk I shall,Т Evandar said aloud. СWhat are you doing to this woman, pretending to be a god and filling her head with portentous words?Т
СDoing to her? SheТs grateful. She begs me for knowledge.Т
СAnd did she beg you to kill young Demet the weaverТs son?Т
Shaetano winced and looked down at the floor.
СI didnТt mean to do that. Truly! He came bursting in here with a sword in his hand and iron cloth all over his chest. It stung me like fire. I was halt-mad from it.Т
СAnd you did what?Т
СI just wanted to make him go away.Т ShaetanoТs voice slipped and wavered. СI shoved him, and the iron stung me, and so I threw him back against the wall.Т He looked up, and his eyes gleamed green in the silver witch-light. СI didnТt know how hard. His head - it hit the stone.Т
СWhy wasnТt there a mark on him then, where his skull got smashed?Т
Caught in his lie Shaetano snarled and flung up both hands. Evandar crossed his arms over his chest and merely looked at him. In a moment Shaetano looked down.
СI donТt know how I killed him. I did somewhat, I waved my hands at him because of the stinking iron. And rage flew out, and somehow his life Ч it spilled away.Т
СWhat did this rage look like?Т
СNaught. I mean, it wasnТt a thing you could see. But he screamed and flung himself back and Ч and died.Т
УYou truly donТt know what killed him?Т
СI donТt.Т Shaetano looked up, and suddenly he snarled again. СOh, and whatТs it to you?Т