"Elizabeth Haydon - Rhapsody 2 - Prophecy, Child of Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haydon Elizabeth)

To hide the Child from the Wind.

From the lips of the Sleeping

Child will come the words of ultimate wisdom:

Beware the Sleepwalker

For blood will be the means

To find that which hides from the Wind.




Meridion sat in the darkness, lost in thought. The instrument panel of the Time Editor was dark as well;
the great machine stood silent for the moment, the gleaming threads of diaphanous film hanging idle on
their spools, each reel carefully labeledPast orFuture . The Present, as ever, hung evanescent like silver
mist in the air under the Editor's lamp, twisting and changing moment by moment in the half-light.

Draped across his knees was an ancient piece of thread, a lore strand from the Past. It was a film
fragment of immeasurable importance, burnt and broken beyond repair on one end. Meridion picked it
up gingerly, then turned it over in his hands and sighed.

Time was a fragile thing, especially when manipulated mechanically. He had tried to be gentle with the
dry film, but it had cracked and ignited in the press of the Time Editor's gears, burning the image he had
needed to see. Now it was too late; the moment was gone forever, along with the information it held. The
identity of the demon he was seeking would remain hidden. There was no going back, at least not this
way.

Meridion rubbed his eyes and leaned back against the translucent aurelay, the gleaming field of energy
tied to his life essence that he had shaped for the moment into a chairlike seat, resting his head within its
hum. The prickling melody that surrounded him was invigorating, clearing his thoughts and helping him to
concentrate. It was his namesong, his life's own innate tune. A vibration unique in all the world, tied to his
true name.

The demon he was seeking had great power over names, too. Meridion had gone back into the Past
itself to find it, looking for a way to avert the path of devastation it had carefully constructed over Time,
but the demon had eluded him. F'dor were the masters of lies, the fathers of deception. They were
without corporeal form, binding themselves to innocent hosts and living through them or using them to do
their will, then moving on to another more powerful host when the opportunity presented itself. Even far
away, from his vantage point in the Future, there was no real way to see them.

For this reason Meridion had manipulated Time, had sliced and moved around pieces of the Past to
bring a Namer of great potential together with those that might help her in the task of finding and
destroying the demon. It had been his hope that these three would be able to accomplish this feat on their
side of Time before it was too late to prevent what the demon had wrought, the devastation that was now
consuming lands on both sides of the world. But the strategy had been a risky one. Just bringing lives
together did not guarantee how they would be put to use.