"R A Salvatore - Icewind Dale Trilogy 1 - Crystal Shard, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Salvatore R. A)

Prelude

The demon sat back on the seat it had carved in the stem of the giant
mushroom. Sludge slurped and rolled around the rock island, the eternal
oozing and shifting that marked this layer of the Abyss.
Errtu drummed its clawed fingers, its horned, apelike head lolling about
on its shoulders as it peered into the gloom. "Where are you, Telshazz?"
the demon hissed, expecting news of the relic. Crenshinibon, pervaded all
of the demon's thoughts. With the shard in its grasp, Errtu could rise over
an entire layer, maybe even several layers.
And Errtu had come so close to possessing it!
The demon knew the power of the artifact; Errtu had been serving seven
lichs when they combined their evil magics and made the crystal shard. The
lichs, undead spirits of powerful wizards that refused to rest when their
mortal bodies had passed from the realms of the living, had gathered to
create the most vile artifact ever made, an evil that fed and flourished
off of that which the purveyors of good considered most precious-the light
of the sun.
But they had gone beyond even their own considerable powers. The forging
actually consumed the seven, Crenshinibon stealing the magical strength
that preserved the lichs' undead state to fuel its own first flickers of
life. The ensuing bursts of power had hurtled Errtu back to the Abyss, and
the demon had presumed the shard destroyed.
But Crenshinibon would not be so easily destroyed. Now, centuries later,
Errtu had stumbled upon the trail of the crystal shard again; a crystal
tower, Cryshal-Tirith, with a pulsating heart the exact image of
Crenshinibon.
Errtu knew the magic was close by; the demon could sense the powerful
presence of the relic. If only it could have found the thing earlier . . .
if only it could have grasped . . .
But then Al Dimeneira had arrived, an angelic being of tremendous power.
Al Dimeneira banished Errtu back to the Abyss with a single word.
Errtu peered through the swirling smoke and gloom when it heard the
sucking footsteps.
"Telshazz?" the demon bellowed.
"Yes, my master," the smaller demon answered, cowering as it approached
the mushroom throne.
"Did he get it?" Errtu roared. "Does Al Dimeneira have the crystal
shard?"
Telshazz quivered and whimpered, "Yes, my lord . . . uh, no, my lord!"
Errtu's evil red eyes narrowed.
"He could not destroy it," the little demon was quick to explain.
"Crenshinibon burned his hands!"
"Hah!" Errtu snorted. "Beyond even the power of Al Dimeneira! Where is
it, then? Did you bring it, or does it remain in the second crystal tower?"
Telshazz whimpered again. It didn't want to tell its cruel master the
truth, but it would not dare to disobey. "No, master, not in the tower,"
the little demon whispered.
"No!" Errtu roared. "Where is it?"