"Richard A. Knaak - The Kingdom Of Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knaak Richard A)

тАЬYou asked for the story, DumonтАФdo you want it ornot? IтАЩve far more important things to do than
entertain you.тАЭ

тАЬGo ahead, sorcerer. IтАЩll try to keep my awe reined in.тАЭ

With a disdainful sniff, Tsin said, тАЬThe archangel came twice more in Juris KhanтАЩs dreams, each time
with the same promise and each time with some clues as to how this miracle could come to be . . .тАЭ

Guided by his visions, Lord Khan urged the sorcerers and priests to efforts such as none had ever
conjectured before. The archangel had left what hints he could of what needed to be done, but the
restrictions by which he existed forbade him from granting the mortals any more than that. Still, with the
faith of Heaven behind them, Ureh dedicated its efforts to achieving this wondrous task. They knew what
they had been offered, and they knew what fate likely would befall them if they failed.

тАЬWhat little we know of that period comes from Gregus Mazi, the only inhabitant of Ureh to be found
afterward. One of the circle of mages involved in the casting of the great spell, it is assumed by most
scholars that at the last moment he mustтАЩve faltered in his faith, for when the sorcerers and priests finally
opened the way to HeavenтАФhow is never saidтАФGregus Mazi was not taken with the rest.тАЭ

тАЬHardly seems fair.тАЭ

тАЬFrom him,тАЭ Quov Tsin went on, utterly ignoring Kentril, тАЬwe know that a tremendous red light
enshrouded Ureh at that point, covering everything up to and including the very walls surrounding it. As
GregusтАФstill heart-stricken at being left behindтАФwatched, a second city seemed to rise above the first,
an exact if ethereal twin of Ureh . . .тАЭ

Before the wide, unblinking eyes of the unfortunate sorcerer, the vast, phantasmal display hovered above
its mortal shell. Even from where he stood, Gregus Mazi could see torchlight, could even see a few
figures standing upon the ghostly battlements. To him, it had been as if the soul of Ureh had left the mortal
plane, for when he glanced at theabandoned buildings around him, they had already begun to crumble
and collapse, as if all they had been had been sucked from their very substance, leaving only swiftly
decaying skeletons.

And as the lone figure looked up once more, he saw the shimmering city grow more insubstantial. The
crimson aura flared, growing almost as bright as the sun that had set but moments before. Gregus Mazi
had shielded his eyes for just a secondтАФand in that second the glorious vision of a floating Ureh had
faded away.

тАЬGregus Mazi was left a broken man, Captain Dumon. He was found by followers of Rathma, the
necromancers of the deep jungle, and they cared for him until his mind had healed enough. He left them,
then, an obsession already growing in his heart. He would join his family and friends yet. The sorcerer
traveled all over the world in search of what he needed, for although he had been a part of the spellwork
that had enabled the people of Ureh to ascend to Heaven, he had not known all of it.тАЭ

тАЬGet to the point, Tsin, the point of our being here at all.тАЭ
 тАЬCretin.тАЭ With a scowl, the robed figure continued. тАЬTwelve years after Ureh, Gregus Mazi returned to
his abandoned homeland. In his wake he left scrolls and books, all indications of his studies. He left notes
here and there, most of which IтАЩve tracked down. Twelve years after Ureh, Gregus Mazi came to the
ruins . . . and simply vanished.тАЭ