"Paul S. Kemp - Erevis Cale 1 - Twilight Falling" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kemp Paul S)

Cale's eyes welled, but he shook his head and blinked back the tears. His blurry gaze fell on one of the
last acquisitions Thamalon had made before his death. It sat on a small three-legged pedestal on an upper
shelf, a solid orb of smooth, translucent, smoky-gray quartz the size of an ogre's fist, with pinpoints of
diamond and other tiny gemstones embedded within it. The chaos of the piece was striking, a virtual
embodiment of madness. Thamalon had taken a liking to it at once. He had purchased it only a month
before, along with a variety of other oddities, from Alkenen, a wild-eyed, eccentric street peddler.
Cale had been at Thamalon's side that day, one of the last days of his lord's life. They had played chess
in the afternoon, and in the evening shared an ale and discussed the clumsy plots of the Talendar family.
Cale smiled at the memory. He resolved then and there to take the orb with him when he left
Stormweather, as a memento of his master.
He didn't realize the full import of his thought until a few moments later. When he left Stormweather.
When had he decided to leave? Had he decided to leave?
The question sat heavy in his mind, fat and pregnant.
He leaned forward in the chair and rested his forearms on his knees. He was surprised to see that he
held between his fingers a velvet maskтАФhis holy symbol of Mask the Lord of Shadows. Odd. While Cale
always kept it on his person, he didn't remember taking it from his vest pocket.
He stuffed the mask back into his vest, interlaced his fingers, and stared at the hardwood floor. Perhaps
it was time to leave. Thamalon was gone and Tamlin was head of the family. And Tamlin had little use for
Cale. What else was there for him?
The answer leaped into his consciousness the moment he asked the question: Thazienne. Thazienne was
there for him.
He crushed the thought, frowning. Thazienne was not there, at least not for him. Her heart belonged to
another. Her arms embraced another. Another shared herтАФ
He snarled and shook his head, struggling to control his anger. Anger did him no good, and he knew it.
He had spent years loving her, though he had always feared it to be futile. She was the daughter of a
merchant noble, he but an assassin playing servant. But the rational understanding that she could never
return his love had not quelled the secret hopeтАФhe could finally admit that to himself, that he had
hopedтАФthat somehow, somehow, they would end up together. Of course, his rationality had done nothing
to stop the knife stab of pain he had felt when she had returned from abroad, smiling on the arm of Steorf.
Merely thinking the man's name shot him full of rage.
The Cale of fifteen years past would have killed Steorf out of spite. The thought of that still tempted
some tiny part of him.
But Cale no longer heeded that part of himself. And he owed that change to Thazienne.
It had been nearly two years since he'd left her a note containing the sum total of his feelings for her: Ai
armiel telere maenen hir, he had written in Elvish. You hold my heart forever.
She had never even acknowledged the note. Not a word, not even a knowing glance. They had stopped
meeting in the butler's pantry late at night for drinks and conversation. She had turned away from him in
some indefinable way. When he looked her in the eyes, it was as though she didn't see him, not the way she
once had.
She was not there for him, and it was time to leave. Stormweather Towers was suffocating him.
Once made, the decision lifted some of the weight that sat heavily on his soul. He did not yet know
where he would go, but he would leave. Perhaps he could convince Jak to accompany him.
As always, the thought of the halfling rounded the corners of Cale's anger and brought a smile to his
face. Jak had stood by him through much, through everything. They had faced Zhents, ghouls, and demons
together. Perhaps most importantly, Jak had helped Cale understand Mask's Calling. Jak had taught him
how to cast his first spells.
Of course Jak would accompany him. Jak was his best friend, his only friend, his conscience. A
manтАФeven a killerтАФcouldn't go anywhere without his conscience. He and Jak seemed linked, seemed to
share a common fate.
Cale smiled and reminded himself that he did not believe in fate. At least he hadn't. But maybe he had