"Simon R. Green - Haven 06 - Bones of Haven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

There were a few small splashes of blood in the cell doorway, dry and almost black. Hawk eased
forward a step at a time, ready for any attack, and then swore softly as the light from Fisher's lamp
filled the cell. The cell's occupant had been nailed to the far wall with a dozen daggers and left to bleed
to death. Given the amount of blood soaking the floor below him, he'd taken a long time to die.

Hawk moved quickly from cell to cell, with Fisher close behind him. Every cell held a dead man.
They'd all been killed in different ways, and none of them had died easily. They all wore sorcerer's
black, but their magic hadn't protected them. Hawk sent Barber back to fetch the rest of the team while
he and Fisher dutifully searched the bodies for any sign of life. It didn't take long. Winter walked
slowly down Sorcerers' Row, frowning, with MacReady at her side. Storm darted from cell to cell,
muttering under his breath. Barber sheathed his sword and leaned against the corridor wall with his
arms folded. He looked completely relaxed, but Hawk noted that he was still keeping a careful watch
on both ends of the corridor. Storm finally finished his inspection and stalked back to report to Winter.
Hawk and Fisher joined them.

"What happened here?" said Hawk. "I thought they were supposed to be magic-users. Why didn't they
defend themselves?"

"Their geas wouldn't let them," said Storm, bitterly. "They were helpless in their cells when the killers
came."

"Why kill them at all?" said Fisher. "Why should the rioters hate magic-users enough to do something
like this to them?"

"There was no hate in this," said Storm. "This was cold and calculated, every bloody bit of it. It's a
mass sacrifice, a ritual designed to increase magical power. If one sorcerer sacrifices another, he can
add the dead man's magic to his own. And if a sorcerer were to sacrifice all these magic-users, one
after anotherтАж he'd have more than enough magic to smash through into Hell Wing, and make a new
doorway."

"Wait a minute," said Hawk. "All the sorcerers in this prison were held here, on Sorcerers' Row, and
none of them are missing. There's a dead body in every cell."

"Someone must have smuggled a sorcerer in, disguised as a prisoner," said Winter. "Probably bribed a
guard to look the other way. This riot was carefully planned, people, right down to the last detail."

Fisher frowned. "So someone could have already entered Hell Wing and let the creatures out?"

"I don't know," said Storm. "Maybe. I can tell there's a new dimensional doorway close at hand, now I
know what I'm looking for, but I can't tell if anyone's been through it recently."

"Great," said Fisher. "Just what this case needed, more complications." She looked at Winter. "All
right, leader, what are we going to do?"

"Go into Hell Wing, and see what's happened," said Winter evenly. "Our orders were to do whatever is
necessary to prevent the inmates of Hell Wing from breaking out. Nothing has happened to change
that."

"Except we now face a rogue sorcerer and an unknown number of rioters as well as whatever's locked
up in there," said Hawk. "I didn't like the odds when we started, and I like them even less now. I can't