"Furey,.Maggie.-.Artifacts.of.Power.4.-.Dhiammara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Furey Maggie)

death of the MagefolkЧwho would have thought that would happen in our lifetime?"
Poor woman! thought Yazour. The only one here of all her kindЧjust like me. He looked again at the
slender figure, his heart aching in sympathy. She seemed so isolated; so vulnerable. And she was
Aurian's mother. . . . An idea began to take shape in Yazour's mind, but before it could resolve
itself, the voice of the Forest Lord thundered down from far above:
"See your prey, my warriors. Take them now!"
"Take cover,".Vannor yelled. "The Phaerie are attacking]"
How dared they1. Eilin's anger, so recently directed at the hapless Mortals, now found its true
and fitting target. "No!" she cried. She ran back across the bridge toward the fires, Vannor a
stride behind her, even as the Phaerie came arcing down out of the sky. Eilin reached the great
campfire ahead of the Forest Lord. All around her people were drawing swords, shouting, running,
crazed~withpanic.
"Stay by the fires." The Mage augmented her voice by magic until it rang out clearly above the
noise. "Stay close to meЧit's your only chance!" As the terrified Mortals began to collect around
the great bonfire, Eilin looked wildly around her. A staffЧshe needed her staff! But she had
relinquished it to D'arvan, long ago, and now it had gone with him to some unknown fate. All she
really needed was something through which to focus her power.... Through a gap in the gathering
crowd, she saw Hargorn's abandoned sword, still planted upright in the mud by the edge of the
lake. The Earth-Mage ran and snatched up the unclaimed blade. She poured her power into the sword

and felt a shock run through her as her magic took on a sharp, raw, aggressive edge far different
from the nurturing forces concentrated by her staff.
Closer and closer the Phaerie came, sounding their silver
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horns and singing their eerie songs of death as they rode. Already they had descended to the level
of the treetops. They were an awe-inspiring sight, terrifying in their beauty. Now freed from that
amorphous otherworld in which they had been imprisoned, they had cast off their grey and shadowy
forms, and now were clothed in robes of shimmering, many-Hued luminescence that trailed behind
them in sparkling drifts like comet tails. The Phaerie rode bareback, but the horses, with their
streaming manes and tails, were controlled with bridles and reins of pure white light, and sparks
flew from their hooves as they raced through the air. As the riders reached the tops of the trees,
everything that their trailing vestments touched took on the same mysterious radiance, to be
limned in frosty rainbow sparkles that spread from branch to branch, outlining the boughs and
leaves in delicate traceries of light.
Eilin forced herself to ignore the beauty, remembering the cold, cruel hearts and minds that
concealed themselves behind such glorious magic. She cried out once, to focus her powers, and
struck the ground hard with the point of her sword. A dome of glimmering green force sprang into
being over the entire encampment to shield the helpless Mortals just as Hellorin came charging
down heedlessly, on the heels of his hounds and in advance of his followers, heading straight into
the midst of the camp. As the shield sprang up in front of him he tore at the white mare's mouth,
trying to divert her from her headlong course, but it was too late. As one by one his hounds came
within range of the magical barrier, they were stung by sizzling bolts of green lightning.
Yelping, they recoiled and retreated. Terrified by the roaring wall of light that had appeared
almost beneath her hooves, Iscalda reared and shied to one side. The Forest Lord, caught off
balance, lurched forward across one snowy shoulder and fell. Striking Eilin's barrier in an
explosion of emerald light, he slid down the shield's curving hemisphere in a spray of spitting
green sparks, crying out in agony as he slithered inexorably and ig-nominiously to the ground. The
mare gave a shrill scream of triumph and bolted, vanishing into the trees.