"Eisenstein,.Phyllis.-.Elementals.2.-.1988.-.Crystal.Palace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eisenstein Phyllis)

enveloped them, showing fractures like broad gray ribbons running into infinity
and scattered cloudy areas like patches of haze, but above all showing the
enorнmous transparency of the place. Cray began to feel like a fly in amber, and
for one fleeting moment, before he could resolutely put it out of his head, he
knew the fear that if his demon guide so chose, he would be that fly indeed,
trapped frozen, crushed, stranded forever in the vast transparency of Ice. He
shivered.
УAre you cold?Ф whispered Elrelet.
УNo,Ф said Cray. УJust ... overwhelmed.Ф
Elrelet snorted, and Cray felt it like a puff of breath against his cheek. УI
suppose itТs pretty enough. But IТd sooner live in any of the other worlds. At
least in them a creature can move without feeling closed in on all sides.Ф
Ahead, the fracture split in two, and they took the fork that bent sharply.
Sometime after that, they made another abrupt turn, and then another. By then,
there was not a trace of AirТs radiance left around them, and they moved instead
in the broad pool of GildrumТs glow.
УWhy so jagged a route?Ф asked Cray. УI see no barriers to our passage except
Ice itself; why not open a path straight through to our destination?Ф
УEvery flaw makes Ice less transparent,Ф said Gildrum, Уand since the demons
value that transparency, they try to avoid creating new ones. I presume this
path is the shortest that our guide could find.Ф
УIt is,Ф Leemin said flatly.
A long while later, though Cray could not judge precisely how long because there
was no sun, no moon, no stars to gauge by, they came to a halt.
УAre we there?Ф he asked. Looking all around, he saw no change in the substance
about him, certainly nothing like a human habitation.
УWe shall have to go back a bit,Ф said Leemin. УThis path will take us near the
home of the Old One, and I see now that I was wrong to think it was not in
residence. Stay still a moment.Ф
УThe Old One?Ф said Cray.
УThe oldest of all the Ice demons. It has returned from the human realm since I
was here last, and when it is at home, we younger demons never disturb it.Ф As
Leemin spoke, its cone shape altered, hollowing out and opening up until the
cone had become the thin outer shell of a cylinder. The cylinder then slid so
that Cray and his two demon friends passed through its center. When Leemin had
completely exchanged relaнtive places with them, its nose slimmed back to a
point and its hollowness closed up. A stubby cone once more, it began to move
back in the direction from which it had come; its companions had no choice but
to follow.
After perhaps a dozen more turnsЧCray had lost count of them by that time and
certainly no longer knew one direction from anotherЧthe Ice demon halted again.
УThere,Ф it said, and became a hollow cylinder once more so that they could look
out along the fracнture they traveled in.
At first, Cray saw nothing new, but as he stared into the distance, and as
GildrumТs glow gradually dimmed till all around him Ice was dark and somber as a
winter evening, he began to make out a faint luminosity far, far away. It had no
shape to his eyes, no solidity; it was only a pale radiance, no brighter than
the new moon in the old moonТs arms.
УSurely we can go nearer than this,Ф Gildrum said, flaring into torchlight.
УAs near as you wish,Ф Leemin replied, and closing into its cone shape, it moved