"Robert Don Hughes - Pelman 03 - The Power and the Prophet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Robert Don)

and again he'd been summoned to lay down his personal concerns and take up cosmic responsibilities.
Was Serphimera's disappearance a prelude to yet another such adventure? He could hardly tolerate the
thought. Yet if Serphimera's prophecies were trueтАФand she'd never been proved wrong yetтАФa new
burden was even now being placed on Pelmen's shoulders. Because of who and what he was, Pelmen
Dragonsbane could do nothing other than bear it.

He could see the figure above him clearly now, and his curiosity grew. The man clothed in skyfaither
blue slowly an-gled off the road toward the north. Pelmen glanced that way and frowned. There was a
path there, but it led only to a blind canyon. Was this skyfaither camped there? When Pelmen's gaze
flicked back to the blue-clad figure his frown deepened with concern; the man tripped and fell.

He didn't throw out his arms to cushion his fall. Instead, he clutched them to his chest, as if he shielded
something within his robes that was above value and that must be protected at all personal cost. Pelmen
would have raced up to help him then, but there was a shout from the canyon above. Almost without
thought Pelmen drew a shield of invisibility around himself, a spell shapers referred to as "the cloak." He
disap-peared.

There were boys among the rocks, playing at being men. They shouted back and forth, proving
themselves upon one anotherтАФa harsh process that could make the mildest of lads brutal for an
afternoon. Suddenly the noise died as they spotted the blue figure climbing toward them. They took his
presence as some kind of challenge. "Halt!" one of the larger boys commanded. When the bluefaither
kept on coming, a ring of lads quickly closed around him. Pelmen felt the threat of violence charge the
atmosphere and he drew near to help. He soon realized he didn't need to bother; as one boy whirled the
skyfaither around and drew back a fist to strike, the man opened his eyes. There were no pupils there, no
irises, no whites. There were only two blank balls of powder blue. The boys all saw it together, and it
sent them shrieking past the invisible Pelmen and down the mountainside. The man threw back his head
and laughed. As the echoes bounced eerily off the canyon walls, Pelmen remembered. He thought he
knew who this might be. He shed his magical cloak of invisibility and spoke.

"You dealt with them easily enough. I shouldn't have wor-ried."

Tahli-Damen grunted in shock and whirled toward Pelmen's voice. "Who are you?" the blind man
demanded.

"A friend."

"All my friends have names," Tahli-Damen growled, his forehead wrinkling in suspicion.

"Where are you going?"

"What's that to you?"

"I'd like to help you."

"Then name yourself!" Tahli-Damen snapped.

Pelmen didn't want to do that just yet. If this man was the one he thought, then Pelmen bore some
responsibility for those hideous powder blue eyes. "That isn't important."

"It is to me!" Tahli-Damen snarled. "Did Wayleeth send you? Well, I'll not go back! You can go tell her