"Julia Gray - Guardian 02 - The Jasper Forest" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

monstrous presences did. Rock did not grow patches of green fur or hair, nor
did it whisper with the echoing voices of a gulping, hissing
tongue. He had tried to listen to what they were saying, but he could make no
sense of their wordless murmuring.
At least now there was something to see and hear. Until the animals came he
had been alone for what seemed like a lifetime, riding on the waves of magic
with only the sky above him and the sea below. Blue upon blue, striped with
the reflections of the sun and moons, blinding glitter and heat balanced by
the cold stars and the Amber, Red and White. He had been aware of the Dark
Moon too, though he could not see it. He felt the invisible pull of the
sky-shadow, and knew that its blind face would look down upon him at the
moment of his death.
In his isolation, Terrel had peopled his world with ghosts тАФ even with those
whom he knew, or hoped, were still alive. They had all come eventually,
friends and foes alike, all except one. Dreaming or awake, Alyssa's face
eluded his thoughts and visions, even though he heard her voice sometimes or
saw her spirit encased in other forms. Of all the cruelties he had to bear,
that was the worst.
The dragging ache in his twisted limbs was something he had coped with all his
life, but now it seemed irrelevant, unnoticed amid other torments of body and
mind. He could hardly move the fingers of even his good hand without the
muscles cramping and every joint being lanced by pain. His breath rattled in
his lungs and he felt nauseous almost all the time, even though his stomach
was empty. His lips were bloated and cracked, and his tongue was now like a
dry clump of rough leather, so swollen that he could only just prise it away
from the roof of his mouth. Thirst raged within him, although he only
occasionally recognized it for what it was. For the rest, it was just one more
helpless yearning among all the others.
His meagre supply of fresh water had run out several days ago, and now тАФ in a
rare lucid moment - his fluttering gaze fell upon the empty bottle, and he
felt the Dark Moon draw closer. He was about to surrender, to answer the siren
call of oblivion, when a stray thought emerged from the chaos of his
disordered mind. At first he did not know what it was, but it nagged at him,
as relentless as the ocean, until meaning followed. His promise. From the
moment those words had been uttered, they had ruled his every action - and
while there was still breath in his body they would not allow him to give up.
I will come back for you. The words seemed empty now, but he could not set
them aside. The struggle had to continue. Even if it was to a bitter end.
Ignoring the renewed protests of his body and the weary groan that escaped
from his parched lips, Terrel forced himself to sit up and look around. The
giant creatures crowded about him, seeming to lean inwards as they encircled
his flimsy raft, and he shrank into himself, fearing that he would be crushed.
But the animals had grown still, just as the waves that propelled him on his
journey had now left him becalmed.
Understanding came slowly, fighting its way through the tangle of his
delirium. The looming giants were indeed made of rock, lifeless but for the
tufts of grass or fern that clung to their sides. Terrel could not imagine
what forces had carved these outlandish and sinister shapes, but their
movement had been an illusion brought on by the rise and fall of the gentle
swell and languid currents that lapped around the bases of the overhanging