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

тАЬWould you look at that,тАЭ Jarmon muttered bitterly. тАЬFor four hundred years it took three men to spring
those brass locks, seven to open that gate into this nest of thieves. Now it swings open like my motherтАЩs
kitchen door. Truly I have lived too long.тАЭ

Hector stepped through the entranceway past the thick walls reinforced internally with iron bars, trying to
absorb the sight beyond them.

The Gated City was empty.

Or perhaps it only appeared that way. From every street corner, every boarded window and alleyway,
he could sense the presence of shadows, could feel the weight of eyes on him, even though there was no
one visible.

Through the silent thoroughfares they walked, stepping over the detritus of the bazaar that littered the
streets, shreds of cloth and broken market carts, sparkling glass fragments and streaks of soot from
long-cold roasting fires. At each street corner Hector stopped and peered into the recesses of the Outer
Ring, but saw nothing; called, but received no answer.

Finally they came to the great well at the center of the Gated City, a place that a revered historian had
described in his writings as the тАЬupspout of a warren of Downworlders, people who lived entirely in the
darkness beneath city streets, in lairs with more tunnels that a queendom of ants.тАЭ Hector didnтАЩt know if
he believed the lore of those mythical human rats, and didnтАЩt care; he only knew that sound in the well
would reverberate throughout the city. He leaned over the edge and shouted.

тАЬHullo! Come out now, all you within the sound of my voice! I command you, in the name of Gwylliam,
High King of Serendair, quit this place at once! The last ship that will ever come waits in the harbor, and
sails with the tide at sunset. Come! The Sleeping Child rises in the northwestтАФsave yourselves!тАЭ

His words resounded off the stones of the alleyways, echoed down the well and through the streets.
Hector waited.

There was no answer.

тАЬAnais,тАЭ Hector said without turning, maintaining his watch on the streets and alleys before him, тАЬgo back
to the gate and ring the Market Day bell.тАЭ

тАЬAre you certain it is there still?тАЭ Anais asked doubtfully. тАЬMost of KingstonтАЩs bells were melted down
for ship fittings when the exodus began.тАЭ

тАЬThat bell was within the Gated City, which was overlooked in the planning of the exodus. It was too
large to be taken by those who have already scurried out of here through whatever holes there may be in
the walls. Keep ringing it until the walls start to give way.тАЭ
Unconsciously the other three moved into a circle with their backs to Hector, watching at the compass
points for signs of response. Aside from a shifting of shadows and a flutter here and there in the darkness,
there were none.

They stood thus, crossbows nocked but pointed at the cobblestones, still as those stones, even as the
great bell sounded loudly from atop the wall at the gate.

Waves of harsh brass sound rippled through the empty streets as Anais struck again and again. A wild