"C. S. Friedman - Coldfire 2 - When True Night Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friedman C. S)

[04 feb 2002-scanned, proofed and released for #bookz]
[Version 2.0]
[Corrected and formatted by braven]




C. S. Friedman




When True Night Falls

For Michael Whelan, whose beautiful art brings
dreams to life.

The author would like to thank Todd Drunagel for
saving chapter two from computer oblivion, and Mark
Sunderlin for rescuing her from computer hell several
times. (Sometimes a world without technology can be very
appealing!) And very special thanks to Daniel Barr, for
costuming above and beyond the call of duty.


Prologue

I Can't Believe we're doing this.

Colony Commander Leonid Case lay full length upon
the damp Ernan soil, his hands clenched into fists before
him. This whole plan was insane, he thought. His furtive
departure from the settlement, his midnight stalk through
these alien woods, and now hiding in this gully like some
forest-born predator, alert for the scent of prey . . . in fact,
the only thing crazier than the way he was acting was the
situation that had brought him here in the first place. And
the man responsible for it.

Damn Ian! Damn his delusions! Didn't the settlement
have enough problems here without his adding to them?
Wasn't it enough that people were dying here - dying! - in
ways that defied all human science? Did Ian have to add to
that nightmare?

The blackness of despair churned coldly in Case's gut,
and panic stirred in its wake. He couldn't let it get to him.
He was responsible for this fledgling colony, which meant
that the others depended on him - on his advice, his
judgment, and most of all on his personal stability. He