"Dance of the Rings 2 - Ring of Intrigue" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fancher Jane S)

out warning of ruts and mud holes. Nikki, a quiet and sane
presencein every sensebrought up the rear and cast
Deymorin silent reassurances regarding his passenger's
safety.
Huddled in the back seat with Kiyrstin, Mikhyel was a
black sink of nonemotion. Awake, holding his thoughts his
own, that was all a brother could ask, a brother whose mind
could afford no distractions.
The trail branched, one road toward the stockyards, the
other toward the leyroad and the gate. The horses surged
uphill, and the ground beneath the wheels rattled and
bounced, then settled onto the smooth surface of a leyroad.
A mental sigh of relief reached him: Nikki's thought, Mik-
hyel's, or both; or perhaps just his own.
But it was a short-lived relief. At the gate, chaos reigned,
delivery vehicles jammed the opening, the silk balloons that
normally rose above them, taking the strain off the axles,
lay limp over the cargo or deflated even as they watched;
further evidence, if they needed it, that the node's power
umbrella was rapidly failing.
Or perhaps, Deymorin thought, as he raised his eyes to
see stormciouds gathering above the city, that energy was
being redirected.
"The Tower, Deymorin! Has the storm reached the
Tower?" Mikhyel's voice pierced the near-deafening rum-
ble. He spoke aloud, as was not altogether necessary, ex-
cept from a biother who sought to hide his horror of the
lightning.
Deymorin looked beyond the immediate area to the sky
above the Tower.
"It's all right," he shouted back over his shoulder. "The
sky's clear beyond the old wall."
Words or mental image penetrated the thunder and dark-
ness, and Mikhyel's relief filtered back: a conscious leak in
the blackness.
A relief all well and good for the safety of the rings and
those individuals within the perimeter of the old wall, but
the immediate danger to themselves and all those milling
about them remained. The old wall, that marker of an ear-
lier limit of the city's power umbrella, was a mile and more
yet ahead.
But they didn't need to reach the umbrella. Not far from
Trisini Gate lay their salvation, if only they could get to it.
As the lightning bore down on them, Deymorin added
his voice to the general cacophony, ordering his men to
help clear the vehicles and get the horses and their handlers
inside the wall, and never mind the cargo.
"Can't, sir!" one shouted back. "Gatekeeper's de-
manding to see papers!"
Deymorin cursed, then yelled at Nikki to change places