"Elenium 02 - The Ruby Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
the ruby knight
David Eddings
the Ellenium
book 2
Ehlana, Queen of Elenia, has been poisoned. A deep enchantment
sustains her life, but it will end soon. Then Sparhawk, Knight of the
Queen's Champion, learns where to get to cure for the poison. He and
his companions set forth on a dangerous quest to find the antidote
e
before the queen should perish and the peace ends....
Prologue
A history of the House of Sparhawk
From the Chronicles of the Pandion Brotherhood
It was in the twenty-fifth century when the hordes of
Otha of Zemoch invaded the Elene kingdoms of western
Eosia and swept all before them with fire and sword in
their march to the west. Otha appeared invincible until
his forces were met on the great,' smoke-shrouded
battlefield at Lake Randera by the combined armies of the
western kingdoms and the concerted might of the
Knights of the Church. The battle there in central
Lamorkand is said to have raged for weeks before the
invading Zemochs were finally pushed back and turned
to flee for their own borders.
The victory of the Elenes was thus complete, but fully
half of the Church Knights lay slain upon the battlefield,
and the armies of the Elene kings numbered their dead
by the scores of thousands. When the victorious but
exhausted survivors returned to their homes, they faced
an even grimmer foe - the famine which is one of the
common results of war.
The famine in Eosia endured for generations, threatening
at times to depopulate the continent. Inevitably,
social organization began to break down, and political
chaos reigned in the Elene kingdoms. Rogue barons paid
only lip service to their oaths of fealty to their kings.
Private disputes often resulted in ugly little wars, and
open banditry was common. These conditions generally
prevailed until well into the early years of the twenty-seventh
century.
It was in this time of turmoil that an acolyte appeared at
the gates of our Mother-house at Demos expressing an
earnest desire to become a member of our order. As his
training began, our Preceptor soon realized that this
young postulant, Sparhawk by name, was no ordinary
man. He quickly outstripped his fellow novices and even
mastered seasoned Pandions on the practice field. It was
not merely his physical prowess, however, which so
distinguished him, since his intellectual gifts were also