"Flint, Kenneth C - Gods of Eire 03 - Master of the Sidhe UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Kenneth C)

"We are," said Lugh.

"Are you unarmed, as agreed?"

"We keep our bargains," the Dagda told him irritably.

The single eye swiveled toward him. "We'll see," the Fomor said. "Let's have a look."

Reluctantly, Lugh and the Dagda pulled back their cloaks so the clan leader could peer about for hidden weapons. Gilla the Clown readily lifted the skirts of his voluminous coat and smiled his most inane smile. The Fomor passed him over quickly as an obvious lunatic. Morrigan unwrapped her cloak to reveal a gaunt but sinewy body that the searcher found amusing. He turned to his companions.

"Look at this one. All bones, she is."

She fixed him with the glittering stare of a raptor spotting prey, but made no reply.

With Aine, the Fomor suddenly grew much more interested. For she threw back her coat to expose a woman's form that belied her girlish look. And the short, belted tunic that she wore did very little to disguise it.

"Well, well!" the Fomor said. "This is better! This one will take a bit more searchin'."

He started toward her, hands out, saliva dribbling from the corner of his sagging mouth. Aine stepped back, warning him in sharp tones: "Keep back, snake, or I'll pop out that only eye of yours!"

He laughed and kept moving forward, but in another instant he was on the ground, rolling about, screaming, flailing wildly to drive off the attacking falcon that had launched itself upon him.

"Get it offl Get it offl" he wailed, trying to keep the tearing claws away from his eye.

"We're here under a truce to see Bres," Lugh told him coldly. "Leave off your games and take us to him now!"

"I will! I will!" the hapless being promised. "Just get the bird offl"

"Bird!" Lugh said simply, and the falcon instantly broke off its attack and flapped back to his arm.

The disheveled warrior got up, eyeing the falcon warily.

"All right then," he said sullenly. "Follow me."

They moved after the Fomor, passing the outer line of

8

MASTER OF THE SIDHE

buildings. Beyond it they entered one of the city's main thoroughfares and found it a scene of confusion and horror.

The street was congested with uncountable milling Fomor. The appearance of the beings who made up this close-packed mass made the Serpent's Head Clan seem almost pleasant in comparison. For the Fomor of Eire were a people doomed to bear the burden of an ancient curse, and its mark was clear upon them. Each one was touched by it in face or form, and

some in both.

Backs were twisted, shoulders bent, limbs stunted or distorted into gnarled claws or clublike hooves or webbed fins. Some lacked arms or legs altogether and made do with crude substitutions of metal and wood.

The faces were of a variety that a human might find in only the deepest and most perverse of nightmares. The greatest number were victims of malformations that gave them the look of beings other than man. Sea creatures seemed to predominate, with an abundance of popping eyes, pulsing gills, and hairless faces lacking ears or noses. Reptilian characteristics were also much in evidence in squat, toadlike heads and drooping mouths. And there were some who simply lacked the essential parts to make up any kind of face, though most of these wore face coverings to hide what even their own brethren couldn't stomach.