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

The Dagda shook his head, clearly skeptical. But Lugh felt something else. Since the first time he had met Bres, he had the odd sensation that he could understand how the man thoughtЧand right now he was certain Bres meant exactly what he said.

"There is no more need for fighting, Bres," he reasoned earnestly. "We can reach some agreement if we try."

"All I'll accept is your destruction and my control of Eire," Bres told him fiercely, the hot light of fanaticism glowing in his eyes.

"Please, remember that you're half de Danann," Lugh implored, desperately trying to reach him. "Don't let the Fomor blood control you. I can feel a de Danann spirit still alive in you. You know I can. You feel it too, Let it take you."

Like the young Champion, Bres had long felt this sense of oneness, as if something linked their minds. As their gazes locked, the words of Lugh stirred something submerged and

nearly lost.

Bres shook his head angrily, breaking off the contact.

"You'll not use that Champion's power of yours to sway me, boy," he sneered. "The Fomor will is too strong. Your de Dananns are lovers of peace, of beauty, of the mind. It has made them weak, and it will destroy them yet."

Lugh sighed. He saw there would be no reasoning with

RUNNING THE MAZE

13

Bres in this, and his heart fell. He had hoped that all the dying, all the fighting and suffering would end here, and his own task would be fulfilled at last.

But his despair was short-lived. He was still the Champion by his own choice, and if Bres meant to continue, he would too.

"If you are determined to fight, then our talk is ended," he said with a chill formality. "We take your answer to Nuada. Good-bye."

He nodded to the others and they turned to start away, but the voice of Bres, soft, cool, and faintly mocking, stopped them.

"I'm afraid you won't be going to Nuada or anywhere else."

They swung back toward him.

"What do you mean?" the Dagda demanded. "We're under a truce here!"

Bres shook his head in disbelief. "I don't follow your absurd codes. I use themЧto take advantage of simple fools like you!"

From behind them came the sudden shriek of grating metal. They whirled toward the noise in time to see an iron gate drop down from high above the avenue, sealing the opening with a grate of heavy bars.

The five trained warriors reacted as one, spinning back to drive at Bres. But the Fomor leader had anticipated their move and used the distraction to run for the opening to the far avenue.

The de Danann Champions had covered only half the distance to it when Bres passed through, and a second gate slipped down, closing the gap with a final sounding clang.

Bres looked back at them through the close-set metal bars and smiled.

"A trap, you see. This square is actually a yard for exercise." He was taking great pleasure in explaining. His voice was slow as he savored every word. "The Fomor, as you know, are afflicted with a terrible curse. Some of them are so grotesquely deformed by it that they have ceased to be men at all. The other Fomor, in their benevolence, give these poor creatures a home here, in these buildings surrounding you." Bres smiled. "And now, you are going to meet them." He raised his voice. "Open the doors!"

In the walls on either side of the square the row of