"Laurell K. Hamilton - Ravenloft - Death of a Darklord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

clearing, making it murky. Something hung from one of the naked limbs. Elaine couldnтАЩt make sense of it
at first. Her eyes refused to see.
 The clouds slipped away, bathing the clearing in silver light. The thing on the tree was black and heavy
against the moon, arms flung awkwardly outward, one leg dangling toward the snow. The other leg was
missing. A large dark stain splattered the snow under the tree.

Elaine screamed.

Tereza had dropped the reins. Her voice came soft on the heels of the scream.

тАЭSummer save us.тАЭ

Konrad stepped out from the undergrowth on the far side of the clearing. тАЭItтАЩs not Blaine, or Thordin.тАЭ

Elaine stared at him. тАЭWho ... ?тАЭ

тАЭTheyтАЩre back here. Hurt, but theyтАЩll be fine.тАЭ She didnтАЩt believe it. He was lying. If Blaine was alive,
heтАЩd come to her, hurt or not.

тАЭElaine, IтАЩm all right.тАЭ Blaine limped out of the bushes, leaning on ThordinтАЩs broad shoulders. He flashed
his brilliant smile, the one that said everything was all right. The smile more than the words convinced
Elaine. She slid off the mare, falling to her knees in the snow. She tried to stand, to go to her brother, but
the moonlit clearing whirled around her. Dark spots ate the moonlight. She fell forward into the snow. It
clutched her face, filled her mouth and nose. Darkness swallowed her. And the darkness was cold.




┬л^┬╗

THREE



Blaine, wrapped in a quilt, slumped in his seat. A pillow was shoved against the back of the chair. Strips
of cloth showed at the split sleeve of his left arm, and his leg was propped up on a small embroidered
footstool. It had been the worst injury. Konrad had sewn the wounds shut, using herbal salve and
bandages to protect them. Even a small cut could turn septic and cost a person his arm. Blaine trusted
KonradтАЩs battlefield dressings more than those of most doctors. Tereza had tried to get Blaine to go to
his own bed, but heтАЩd refused. He wanted to be there when Elaine awakened.

Elaine was always weak after a vision, but Blaine had never realized how weak. Her skin had been
colder than the snow, cold as death. Only the rise and fall of her breathing had let Blaine know she was
alive. Though blood had dripped down his arm and seeped from his leg, though the tree branches had
torn his leg and he couldnтАЩt walk without help, it was Elaine who had nearly died. He gazed down at his
sister. Her pale yellow hair spilled out over the pillow. ElaineтАЩs face was like a mirror of his own. The
bones were slightly more delicate, the eyes greener than his own blue, but the twins were still like two
sides of the same coin. Their parents had been killed when they were eight; from then on, it had been just
the two of them. They had survived for two years before Jonathan took them in. Two years with only
each other to trust, to depend on. No matter how grateful they were to Jonathan and Tereza, they were