"Julia Gray - Guardian 04 - The Red Glacier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

Prologue
'And do you know what the sword was called?'
'Slayer?' Yarek replied, getting it wrong deliberately so that it wouldn't
spoil his grandfather's story.
'No.' Takkara smiled at the boy's innocent expression. 'It was called the
Peacemaker. Strange name for a sword, eh?'
Yarek nodded.
'It was called that,' the old man explained, 'because it made the warrior who
wielded it invincible. His foes would fall before him, making the ice run red
with their blood, and only when they were all defeated would there be peace.'
'So why don't our generals use it?' Yarek asked.
'It's not as simple as that. The Peacemaker was lost long ago, many centuries
before even I was born.'
'How could anyone lose anything so important?'
'That's a good question,' Takkara replied. 'The only answer I can give you is
that the gods are sometimes capricious тАФ even cruel.'
'Who forged the sword?'
'No one knows for certain, but it must have been a very great wizard.'
'Then why can't one of our wizards make another one?'
'Because the magic was lost too.'
The boy nodded, looking thoughtful.
'No one knows where the blade is now,' Takkara went on, 'although most people
assume it's buried deep within the ice that never melts, guarded by the Lonely
Peaks. And that's not all.' The old man's voice fell to a conspiratorial
whisper. 'The sword only becomes visible when the Red Moon is full and all the
other moons are new тАФ and that's a very rare combination. You'll be lucky to
see it once in your lifetime.'
'Have you ever seen it?' Yarek asked.
'No, but my father did, when he was not much older than you are now. He told
me that all the mountains, all the snow fields, all the glaciers turned red,
as if the gods themselves were weeping blood.'
'Did he look for the sword?'
'Of course! But he was too young to go very far, and much stronger men had to
turn back that night. Many men died and even more lost fingers or toes to the
bitter cold, but no one even caught a glimpse of the sword. Some say that only
a hero who can walk on through the winter dark will ever be able to find the
Peacemaker.'
'But that's impossible!' Yarek objected.
'Who knows what a true hero can do?'
The boy still looked doubtful, but decided not to argue. He knew that he'd
been lucky to have his grandfather to himself for so long. Takkara was the
best inspirator in the whole of the Black Quarter, and his services were much
in demand. This late in the season the generals called for him less often, but
there was usually one last campaign being planned, one last daring raid on the
White or the Gold, and it was rare for Takkara to be able to return to his
village home for more than a few hours at a time. It was rarer still for him
to be persuaded into retelling one of the old stories. When he was not working
he liked to take a rest from such things - but he found it almost impossible
to refuse his grandson.
Yarek could see that the old man was tired now, and wondered how he could keep