"Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 00 - The Strike at Shayol " - читать интересную книгу автора (Jordan Robert)

appearance of a certain person are but curiosities. The pages which might reveal exactly where these
things happened, what their special significance was, the resolution or end result, are usually missing.
Why then is this collection so important? First because, sundered as it is, it contains more information of
the War of the Shadow than any other known single source, perhaps as much as all other sources
combined in some ways. But even more importantly, it gives a great deal of information available
nowhere else. And most importantly of all, the six consecutive pages and others which must be placed
close to them contain the only known account of events surrounding what surely must be the most
far-reaching single event in the history of the world, in any Age: the sealing of the Bore by Lews Therin
Telamon and the Hundred Companions.
We still cannot be certain how long passed between the creation of the Bore and the actual beginning of
what would come to be called the War of the Shadow, yet plainly at least fifty years and possibly more
than one hundred were marked by a rapid decline in the social order and an equally rapid increase in a
thousand ills that previously had been either rare or entirely unknown. War itself was a "new" discovery,
it seems, though one quickly learned, some might even say perfected. The War of the Shadow tilted one
way, then another, in fire and blood, over its course. During the first three years, the Shadow made great
gains, and large parts of the world fell beneath the horror of the Dark One's dominion, however indirectly
through human representatives. And surely, the presence of Myrddraal and Trollocs cannot be called
indirect. Under the leadership of Lews Therin Telamon, the legendary Dragon of the Prophecies, much of
what had been lost was retaken over the next four years, though not without reverses. At that point, a
stalemate developed, and for nearly a year neither side was able to effect any gain despite fierce fighting,
but when the stalemate broke, the Shadow began to advance again, slowly at first but with ever
increasing speed. According to the writer of that fragmentary history, "It was as if every step forward by
the Shadow scattered the spores of chaos before it, and feeding on what grew, the Shadow gained
strength, so that its next stride was longer, and the next step would be longer still."
Huge areas had been devastated to varying degrees by this time as the war surged back and forth around
the world, and it was obvious that while the Shadow was willing to starve or murder a great percentage
of the population in the conquered territories, the forces of the Light could no longer sustain a protracted
war. They were losing, being pushed toward inevitable defeat with increasing speed, and if they were to
win at all, it must be done quickly.
One of the plans for ending the war quickly, proposed by Lews Therin, centered around a direct attack on
the Bore itself. Seven "focus points" (there seems no better translation from the old tongue, although they
are obviously the Seals of Legend) were constructed of cuendillar. A raiding force -- so they called it,
though even in the light of recent past events it must still seem a large army to most people of this day --
a raiding force consisting of some twenty thousand soldiers to provide security and a circle of seven
female Aes Sedai and six male (the minimum number believed necessary, and all the strongest who
could be found) would Travel to Shayol Ghul , the one place on earth where what has been called "a
thinness in the Pattern" makes the Bore detectable, and there to implant seals held by the focus points
which would close up the Bore and shut the Dark One from the world once more.
This plan was considered risky for a number of reasons. Even today it is known that the Dark One has a
certain degree of effect on the world close around Shayol Ghul, and it was probable that any attempt to
channel there would be instantly detected and the raiding party destroyed. Lews Therin himself, who
intended to personally lead this huge raid, admitted that even with sucess, he expected few of the
attackers to survive, perhaps none. Worse, several experts claimed that if the seals were not placed with
exact precision, the resulting strain would, instead of sealing up the Bore, rip it open, freeing the Dark
One completely.
Another plan at the time centered around two huge sa'angreal, one attuned to saidin and one to saidar,
both so powerful that using them required special ter'angreal, like miniature versions of the great
sa'angreal, constructed especially for the purpose of accessing the sa'angreal. This project had its
detractors, too, for the sa'angreal were planned to be so powerful that either one might well provide
enough of the One Power to destroy the world, while both together certainly would. Some doubted that