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

finally reached his consciousness, it was like a bell rousing him from a deep sleep.

тАЬNothing save for some stray dogs and a murder of crows that has taken refuge in the eaves of the old
prelateтАЩs office.тАЭ

тАЬA murder of crows?тАЭ

Anais adopted an aspect of mock seriousness. тАЬAye, big uglies, too. One of them may have been the
prelateтАЩs wife.тАЭ

Hector smiled. тАЬShe certainly had quite a caw to her, but alas, none of the birds could be she. May God
the One, the All, help my fatherтАФshe sailed on his ship.тАЭ

Anais shook his head in sympathy. тАЬPoor MacQuieth. As if he did not have enough to contend with.тАЭ
Hector nodded, abandoning the attempt to summon better memories of the Confectionery. тАЬMy fatherтАЩs
greatest burden in the last days before the exodus was the irony of it all. He spent his youth fighting the
Seren War to spare the Island from the fires of the Underworld, to keep the demons born of that fire
from destroying Serendair. And now that the FтАЩdor are defeated, the last of their kind sealed forever in
the Vault of the Underworld, the Island is going to succumb to fire after allтАФfire from the sky long
lodged in the sea.тАЭ

тАЬSomehow I doubt that the irony was your fatherтАЩs greatest burden,тАЭ Anais said, kicking the broken
storefront sign away from the cobbled street.

тАЬDid you look in on the stable?тАЭ

тАЬAye.тАЭ

тАЬAre any of the horses still alive?тАЭ

тАЬRemarkably, all of them are, the poor beasts. Most have withered to skin and bones. Cantha is feeding
them the last of the hay.тАЭ

Hector loosed a deep sigh. тАЬI think we should deviate from our regular route, Anais. Before we leave
here, letтАЩs take them out of the city to the fields at the crossroads and turn them loose. Surely it is kinder
than leaving them in their paddocks, to be fed only when we come through. They can find grass and
water there.тАЭ

тАЬAgreed,тАЭ Anais said. тАЬThe human population is gone now. WhatтАЩs a delay in a route that guards no one,
anyway?тАЭ

Hector looked back over his shoulder up the main street that led at its terminus to the entrance of the
Gated City in the north of Kingston.

тАЬNot all of the human population is gone,тАЭ he objected quietly. тАЬOnly those who were free to leave.тАЭ

Anais followed his gaze, then exhaled deeply.

As the sea wind blew through KingstonтАЩs desolate streets, whipping sand into their eyes, both men
thought back to earlier days, after the exodus of the Fleets but before the rescue ships from other lands