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

тАЬMy father walked these streets many times,тАЭ he mused aloud. тАЬHe said there was a darkness that hung
over the place, that was present in the very air itself. It must have been extant in the nefarious population
that lived here; it appears they took it with them when they left.тАЭ

тАЬGood,тАЭ Jarmon muttered. тАЬPerhaps it obscured their path on the sea and they sank without a trace.тАЭ

They combed each street, each alley, calling rotely as they had in the Outer Ring, but within this smaller,
closer section of the Gated City their words were swallowed in the devouring silence that reigned here.

At one street corner halfway in, Cantha stopped and turned down the thoroughfare; the others followed
her past a stand of dark buildings to a place where one appeared to be missing. A gray hole of cold ash
held its place amid the otherwise unscathed structures, like a missing tooth in a dull smile.

The Kith woman inclined her head into the wind and inhaled.

тАЬThe PoisonerтАЩs,тАЭ she said. It was the only building in the Inner Ring that had been razed.

тАЬThey took their secrets with them as well,тАЭ said Anais.

тАЬThereтАЩs no one here, Hector,тАЭ Jarmon called impatiently from farther up the street, his voice muted.
тАЬCan we quit this place now? We have searched as well as God, the One, the All, could possibly ask; let
us be out of here before we set off a trap or discover some other sign of contempt left behind for the
forces of His Majesty.тАЭ

Hector glanced around at the desolate streets, the hollow buildings, silent witnesses to acts that would
have defied description even if their stones could talk.Another trove of mystery enters the annals of
Time, he thought bemusedly, then turned back to the others who watched him intently from farther up the
street.

тАЬYes,тАЭ he said at last. тАЬWeтАЩve searched enough. LetтАЩs be off.тАЭ



The second longboat was preparing to depart when Hector and the others returned to the pier in
KingstonтАЩs harbor.

Sevirym waved for the boatswain to wait and jogged back up the dock, looking behind his friends in the
mist.

тАЬAnyone else?тАЭ

тАЬNo one,тАЭ Hector said flatly. тАЬThe City is empty.тАЭ

The captain of theStormrider came forward hastily out of the fog.

тАЬWe are not even two-fifths laden with this boatload,тАЭ he said somberly. тАЬSurely this is not all?тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm afraid it is.тАЭ