"Katherine Kurtz - Adept 01 - The Adept" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

He skimmed over the early material, searching for the key - that initial moment of awakening, the point at
which the soul first encountered its own spiritual likeness mirrored in the greater soul of the Divine Light. For
Peregrine Lovat, that epiphany had taken place at Delphi in the age of Pericles. The oracular gift bestowed at
that instant of enlightenment was what made itself known now, as the gift of seeing. Not to many was such
vision given; and to endure the gift, its use - and disuse - must be mastered. Such would be the task of
Peregrine Lovat - and of Adam, to teach him.
So. The soul that now was Adam Sinclair bore witness to the mandate: to make of a potential curse a gift, a
tool for his own further spiritual advancement and in the service of the Light - for Peregrine had made that
unreserved dedication to service before. It remained but to reawaken him in this life - a task which Adam, as a
healer of souls as well as of minds, had performed before.
But as he closed the book, preparing to go, light darted from roof to floor to roof again in quicksilver flashes
too swift for the eye to follow, lively as summer lightning. The signature was unique, portending the imminent
arrival of one of those to whom Adam answered on the Inner Planes.
Stilling his curiosity, for he had not asked for audience, Adam acknowledged the authority of One who had
long ago progressed beyond the need to manifest in physical form, bowing his head and opening his hands at
his sides in a posture of receptivity. The other manifested in a beam of pure white light that pooled
momentarily on the floor of the dais beneath Adam's feet and then surged up and around to envelope him in a
shimmering pillar of opalescent fire.
Restive forces brood at the edge of the Abyss, Master of the Hunt, came the unexpected warning. Do you
seek our help?
The question startled Adam, for he had perceived no threat requiring his attention. He had been functioning in
his capacity as a physician of souls tonight, not as a cosmic keeper of the peace.
No, Master. I have come on an errand of mercy, as a healer of souls. Explain.
It is written that all pilgrim souls must enter the world as children, and that so long as the personality is
immature, the intellect untrained, even an Adept may be kept from achieving his full potential. There is such a
one come to me - an Adept, I find, of rare gifts - who has been crippled, half-broken in childhood, before mind
and intellect had sufficiently matured to protect the indwelling spirit. I believe his destiny may lie within the
mandate of my mission, but the fledgling hawk must be re-pinioned, before he is ready to rejoin the Hunt. I
would help him learn to fly again, that the potential of his gifts may be regained.
The desire is worthy, came the response, but you should know that opposition threatens, and a risk is
involved. What opposition, and what risk?
The Veil obscures details, even from us, but a threat exists. You will be a focus, though even the opposition
will not know it for some time.
I am not afraid to face this threat, Adam replied. But, is the fledgling to become an ally, then? How, if I can
neutralize the self-doubt that cripples him, so that his potential is released? May he take his rightful place
before the Light?
He may. If the fledgling proves steadfast, you have authority to receive him; but this is by no means
foreordained. Do you accept the commission to rehabilitate this soul?
The question bore of no answer but one. My office as physician in the Outer was not lightly undertaken,
Master. Nor do I take lightly my vows on the Inner, as a sentinel of the Light. I see the spark in Peregrine
Lovat - a spark too bright to be wasted in aimless wandering, when it could be directed to Service. I accept
the commission.
So be it, then, Master of the Hunt. But tread softly, lest he and you should plummet into the Abyss. It shall
be so, Adam replied, with a deep bow. Between one heartbeat and the next, the enfolding presence simply
was not there any longer. The Chamber of Records wavered around Adam and then disappeared, and he
arrowed back toward the material world. The slight disorientation of soul-flight ended with the faint psychic jolt
that signalled the spirit's reunion with matter. When Adam opened his eyes, swaying a little on his feet, he
was standing once again in the familiar library at Strathmourne, hands resting on the back of the chair where
Peregrine Lovat slept. Details of what had just transpired grew more hazy by the second, but a clear plan of
action lay before him now.