"David Gemmell - Echoes of the Great Song" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gemmel David)

Chapter Six....................................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter Seven .................................................................................................................................. 32
Chapter Eight.................................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter Nine .................................................................................................................................... 41
Chapter Ten ...................................................................................................................................... 46
Chapter Eleven ................................................................................................................................. 50
Chapter Twelve ................................................................................................................................ 54
Chapter Thirteen............................................................................................................................... 60
Chapter Fourteen .............................................................................................................................. 66
Chapter Fifteen ................................................................................................................................. 72
Chapter Sixteen ................................................................................................................................ 78
Chapter Seventeen............................................................................................................................ 83
Chapter Eighteen .............................................................................................................................. 87
Chapter Nineteen.............................................................................................................................. 94
Chapter Twenty .............................................................................................................................. 101
Chapter Twenty-One ...................................................................................................................... 106
Chapter Twenty-Two ..................................................................................................................... 111
Chapter Twenty-Three ................................................................................................................... 118
Chapter Twenty-Four ..................................................................................................................... 128
Chapter Twenty-Five...................................................................................................................... 135
Chapter Twenty-Six ....................................................................................................................... 146
Chapter Twenty-Seven ................................................................................................................... 152
Epilogue ......................................................................................................................................... 156
Chapter One
And that was in the time before our time, when Tail-avar, the god of wisdom, travelled with Storro, Speaker
of Legends, and Touch the Moon, god of tribes, to steal power from the magic fang of the Frost Giant. With a
rope crafted from moonlight Tail-avar lassoed seven serpents of the sea. They drew his canoe across the Great
Water in less than a day. When Touch the Moon saw the beast they had come to find, he fell to the floor of the
canoe, and cried out to the Spirit of Heaven to grant them courage, for the Frost Giant was greater than
mountains, its white back tearing the sky. The breath from its mouth flowed for many leagues as a cold mist
across the water. Its claws were as long as the ribs of a whale, its teeth as sharp as betrayal.

from the Morning Song of the Anajo

Alone on an icy hillside, the wind blowing cold across the glaciers, Talaban recalled the first time he had
heard the prophecy.

The Great Bear will descend from the skies and with his paw lash at the ocean. He will devour all the works
of Man. Then he will sleep for 10,000 years, and the breath of his sleep will be death.

The words had been spoken by a Vagar mystic; a ragged man in clothes of filthy fur, sitting on the lower
steps of the Great Temple. Thinking the man a beggar the young blue-haired Avatar officer had given him a
small silver coin. The mystic looked at it, turning it over and over in his grimy hand. His face was smeared with
dirt and sweat, and upon his neck was an inflamed boil. Had he been anywhere else in the city the Watch would
have arrested him, for no Outland beggars were allowed in the streets of Parapolis. But the Temple was the
acknowledged centre for the world's religions, and all were free to gather here. Vagars, tribesmen, nomads, all
journeyed to Parapolis. It was as much a political decision by the Avatars as a spiritual one. For the barbarians
returned to their homes and convinced their followers of the futility of revolt. Parapolis, with its gleaming towers
of gold, and its powerful magic, was a symbol of invincible might.
Talaban watched the fur-clad beggar examining the coin. The boil on his neck seemed ready to burst, and the