"David Gemmell - Sipstrassi Tales 01 - Wolf In Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gemmel David)

Achnazzar was sweating now as he licked dry lips with a dry tongue.
'Not an area, Lord, but three men.'
'Name them.'
'Only one can be identified, the others are hidden. But we will find them. The one is called
Shannow. Jon Shannow.'
'Shannow? I do not know the name. Is he a leader of men, or a Brigand chief?'
'No, Lord. He rides alone.'
'Then how is he a danger to the Hellborn?'
'Not to the Hellborn, sire, but to you.'
'You consider there is a difference?'
Achnazzar blanched and blinked the sweat from his eyes. 'No, Lord, I meant merely that the
threat is to you as a man.'
'I have never heard of this Shannow. Why should he threaten me?' 'There is no sure answer, sire,
but he follows the old, dead god.'
'A Christian?' spat Abaddon. 'Will he seek to kill me with love?'
'No, Lord, I meant the old dark god. He is a Brigand-slayer, a man of sudden violence. There is
even some indication that he is insane.'
'How do these indications manifest themselves - apart from his religious stupidity?'
'He is a wanderer, Lord, searching for a city which ceased to exist during Blessed Armageddon.'
'What city?'
'Jerusalem, Lord.'
Abaddon chuckled and leaned back on his throne, all tension fading. 'That city was destroyed by
a tidal wave three hundred years ago - by the great mother of all tidal waves. A thousand feet of
surging ocean drowned that pestilential place, signaling the rein of the Master and the death of
Jehovah. What does Shannow hope to find in Jerusalem?'
'We do not know, Lord.'
'And why is he a threat?'
'In every chart, or seer-dream, his line crosses yours. Karmically you are bonded. It is so with the
other two; in some way Shannow has touched - or will touch - the lives of two men who could
harm you. We cannot identify them yet - but we will. For now they appear as shadows behind the
Jerusalem Man.'
'Shannow must die ... and swiftly. Where is he now?'
'He is at present some months' journey to the south, nearing Rivervale. We have a man there,
Fletcher. I shall get word to him.'
'Keep me informed, priest.'
As Achnazzar backed away from his monarch, Abaddon rose from the ebony throne and
wandered to the high arched window, gazing over New Babylon. On a plain to the south of the
city the Hellborn army was gathering for the Raids of the Blood Feast. By Winter the new guns
would be distributed and the Hellborn would ready themselves for the Spring war: ten thousand
men under the banner of Abaddon, sweeping into the south and west, bringing the new world into
the hands of the last survivor of the Fall.
And they warned him of one madman?
Abaddon raised his arms. 'Come to me, Jerusalem Man.'
 CHAPTER ONE


The rider paused at the crest of a wooded hill and gazed down over the wide rolling empty lands
beneath him.
There was no sign of Jerusalem, no dark road glittering with diamonds. But then Jerusalem was
always ahead, beckoning in the dreams of night, taunting him to find her on the black umbilical