"J. Robert King - Invasion Cycle 02 - Planeshift" - читать интересную книгу автора (King Robert J)

plantation house, Phyrexians marched in an orderly
column.
"What is this?" Tahngarth asked.
Gerrard only shook his head.
At last the ship flew over the shattered mansion itself.
Every room lay open to the sky. The ghosts of past
grandeur lingered among burned beams and ruined
furnishings. The Phyrexian parade entered the plantation
house and snaked its way to a specific roomтАФa small room.
It was untouched by the ravages that had destroyed the
rest, or it had been reconstructedтАФthe room of a young
man. There, in that doorway, Phyrexians one by one
bowed to the floor in homage.
There was no time to see more. Weatherlight shot past
the roofless home. Gerrard and the other gunners still
watched for ground-to-air fire, but none rose.



24
 J. Robert King

In dread realization, Gerrard murmured, "It's not a
command center. It's a holy place, a temple to the boy who
grew up there. It's a temple to Crovax." A drop of sweat
rolled chillingly down Gerrard's spine.
How high had Crovax risen in the Phyrexian hierarchy?
"That's why we're in Urborg," Gerrard said to himself.
"Crovax is here." Into the speaking tube, he said, "Bring us
around, Sisay. Let's go in with guns blazing. It'll be like
shooting fish in a barrel. We'll kill every last bug. We'll
capture this isle. It'll become our beachhead for rousting
the Phyrexians from all of Urborg."
Even as he spoke, Sisay brought the ship around in a
tight arc. All along the rails, cannons hummed hotly, ready
for annihilation. The jitters were gone from gunners'
hands. There was only the grim set of jaws and the lightless
eyes of men who knew they were about to commit
slaughter.
Gerrard's gun spoke first. It lashed out a red hand that
burned away a whole platoon of Phyrexians. Tahngarth's
cannon ripped through fifty more. Death stabbed down on
the bowed heads and shuffling claws. Phyrexians died like
roaches.
Above the roar of his gun, Tahngarth shouted, "Why
don't they even run?"
Gerrard shook his head. "They cannot run. Crovax has
commanded their worship."