"Ed Greenwood - Forgotten Realms - Elminster 4 - Elminster In Hell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Greenwood Ed)

something to haul you around by, and tear away that which makes you a man-"
El screamed higher and harder, helplessly.
тАЬNergal am I, old fool, and a rightful Prince of Hell. So heed my words. I've few enough visitors
who can appreciate proud speeches, so you're going to listen to my every word. My spells will keep you
aware, no matter how much pain besets you-and I've had enough of your keening, faster than I'd thought
I would. Wherefore, he still."
Elminster suddenly found himself silent, though his throat still rippled in midshrick and his body
trembled with its aching effort to spew forth blood.
Nergal gave him a merry smile. "That's better" the archdevil cooed, as if addressing a favorite child.
He drew himself up, tentacles rising above him in a soaring, peacock flourish, and spoke like a king
declaiming proudly from his throne;
 "Outcast and exiled here, I am yet the mightiest of all-aye, overmatching even Tiamat the
Many-Mawed-who call Avernus home. Too proud and too accomplished to serve the Reigning Serpent,
but too mighty to be slain. Dispater is no greater than I, nor Baalzebul... and therefore I am useful. Some
day, Asmodeus might have need of me."
Tentacles caressingly lifted their broken burden. Human skin fell away in strips as Nergal drew what
was left of Elminster close, so their eyes stared into each other across a very small distance.
"And on that day," the gleeful outcast devil added in lower tones, "it will be my distinct pleasure to
defy the lord of Nessus in his hour of need. Defy him with power enough to shatter his throne, and over
his shrieking bones bring war to Hell. And you, little cringing human, shall be my way to some of the
weapons I'll need."
Tentacles tightened, and El spat blood involuntarily.
"I-ugh! Uh! Aagh!" was all he managed to say, struggling for breath through the blood choking him.
Then the moments allowed him were over. Silence settled icily over his throat again.
Tin glad you agree so eagerly," Nergal purred. "Hearken and learn, little tool. I'm but one of those,
both great and wretched, who lurk in the shadows of Avernus awaiting the day we all know will come.
Archdevils may be slain, but it's not easy to destroy us forever. The lord of Nessus must burn away some
of his power to bring about such a doom. He's done it, yes-but only in punishment for the most deadly
doing that could be launched against him; archdevil lying with archdevil to have offspring they hide from
Asmodeus, to bring to Hell an archdevil the Lord Below knew not,"
Tentacles thrust Elminster down firmly on a spine of rock. Unyielding sharpness jabbed into raw
flesh. Staring at the blood-drenched sky, El arched and writhed in silently screaming agony, A tentacle
thoughtfully lifted his head so that he could look along his body ,.. and sec the bloody spire of rock
standing amid a glistening welter of his organs, ' He stared at it, too racked with pain to cling to his frayed
memory of Mystra's face.
Nergal loomed over his captive and explained almost merrily, as if telling a fancy tale to a child
reluctant to drift off to sleep, "Lucifuge was but a puling thing when Asmodeus devoured him-literally,
growing his teeth into fangs to do it. I saw."
Slithering tentacles plucked the Old Mage from the rock-gods, the tearing pain!-and held him aloft
in front of Nergal's face once more. The archdevil's eyes were a bright blue-red now.
"He gave Lucifer and Batna the final doom for having that child." Nergal added excitedly, "executing
them as Baalzebul, fiercest of Lucifer's foes, watched, Baalzebul he plucked from his palace and
snatched across the Hells to hold in thrall-just to show us all that he could burn a prince and princess of
Hell to nothing whilst he racked another prince, despite their struggles, all three. He gave Malbolge to
Baalzebul purely to torment Lucifer in his last moments-and tore it away again later, to elevate another to
the greatness that should have been mine!"
Nergal's voice rose into a roar, and brutal tentacles shook Elminster like a rag doll. "That will be
mine, and only a small part of what's mine, in time to come," The archdevil's voice lost its rage as he
added, "Sooner, now, than before you fell into my hands."
A many-toothed smile broadened. "I should thank Mystra. Years she meddled with you, shaping