"Elizabeth Haydon - Symphony of Ages - Threshold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haydon Elizabeth)

тАЬI am he,тАЭ Hector said, grasping the pylon and leaning out over the end of the pier to get a better look at
the man in the longboat through the hazy light. тАЬWhy have you come here?тАЭ

The man shielded his eyes. тАЬI am Petaris Flynt, captain of theStormrider , sailing under the flag of
Marincaer. I bear news; toss me a line.тАЭ

Jarmon and Anais set about mooring the lead longboat, while Cantha went back to assist Sevirym in
guiding the remaining ones to the pier with the firebrand. Hector offered the captain his hand and
discovered upon pulling the man onto the dock how weak his grip had become, how much flesh had
been lost from his arm.

The captain was a burly man, stout and barrel-chested, with a full gray beard and eyes as black as the
depths of the sea. He looked up at Hector, half a head taller, then allowed his eyes to wander to the
others and beyond to the empty wharf. He shook his head and sighed.

тАЬWho could ever have imagined the great light tower of Kingston would go dark in my lifetime?тАЭ he
mused. тАЬI had thought the rising of the sun was more in doubt than the presence of that beacon. Alas and
alack.тАЭ He signaled to the sailors in the longboat to be at ease, then met HectorтАЩs eye again.

тАЬWe are here to take one last load, Sir HectorтАФwhatever stragglers remain, whoever may have missed
the last ship outтАФthis trulyis the final chance they will have. The sea above the Northern Isles is roiling in
the heat; the bilge in any ship now boils within ten leagues of Balatron. We donтАЩt know if we will make it
out ourselvesтАФwe sail with the tide at sunset, heading southwest as fast as the wind will carry us until we
hit the Icefields, then looping back to the north. Anyone on board at sunset can come with us. All others
remainтАФno exceptions.тАЭ

тАЬMay God the One, the All, forgive my ingratitude, but why did you come here?тАЭ Hector asked
incredulously. тАЬThe shipping lanes have been closed to this place for more than two months now. The
exodus was completed three months before that; the Third Fleet left in midspring. There is no one left to
saveтАФeveryone who was willing to leave is already gone.тАЭ

FlyntтАЩs brow furrowed. тАЬI came by the order of the king of Marincaer, who was asked to send me by
Stephastion, one of the barons of Manosse.тАЭ
тАЬManosse?тАЭ Hector glanced at Jarmon and Anais, who shrugged. Manosse was a great nation half a
world away on the eastern coast of the Northern Continent, far from the lands to which the refugees who
had refused to sail with the Fleets had fled.

тАЬAye,тАЭ said Flynt. тАЬIt is from Manosse that the news comes as well. Your fatherтАЩs fleet landed there.тАЭ

тАЬIn Manosse?тАЭ Hector asked in concern. тАЬWhy? What happened? That is not to where they were
bound.тАЭ

тАЬApparently they were beset by a great storm,тАЭ Flynt replied, speaking rapidly. тАЬSundered at the Prime
Meridian. Many ships were lost. Part of the surviving flotilla landed at Gaematria, the Isle of the Sea
Mages, though it is a forbidden place to most. Your father led the remainder of the fleet back to
Manosse, probably because he knew the weakened ships would not survive the rest of the voyage east
to the Wyrmlands, where they were originally headed. They plan to stay there, IтАЩm told.тАЭ

Hector nodded. тАЬWhat of the First Fleet? And the Third?тАЭ