"Mercedes Lackey - Obsidian 02 - To Light A Candle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

"Your companions are already dead. You have no one to consider but yourself. No one will know
what happened here but you. Isn't it time you did what you want, for a change? Here is your
future, Kellen." His doppelganger leaned forward, his face wearing a mask of pleasantry, his voice
eager, urging. "You have but to reach out and seize it. And you will receive nothing but praise for
your actions."

Now Kellen looked away, down toward the plain below, but everything below the top of the cairn
was covered with a thick layer of yellow-green fog. It was as if the rest of the world had vanished.
Quickly he looked back at his doppelganger, suspecting a trick, but Other-Kellen had not moved. His
doppelganger smiled at Kellen sympathetically, as if guessing the direction of Kellen's thoughts.

"But if you go through with this foolish adventure, your future will be set. If you think you have
troubles now, you can't even begin to imagine what your life is going to be like afterward -
assuming you don't die right here. Think of the Demons. They know your name, Kellen. The Queen
and Prince of the Endarkened know who you are. They know all about you, and they'll find you
wherever you go. You won't have an easy death, or a quick one. Torment - oh, for them, it is the
highest form of Art, and they have had millennia to perfect it. You won't die, but you will long for
death with all of your being. For years, Kellen, for years...."

Other-Kellen shuddered in mock-sympathy, his eyes never leaving Kellen's face.

Kellen's face. Kellen trembled, remembering his nightmares, knowing they must have fallen far short
of the truth.

"Oh, you might survive triggering the keystone. You might even manage to get back to
Sentarshadeen alive. And I'm sure your friends the Elves will do their best for you. But it hasn't
really been much of a best so far, has it? They couldn't even manage to save themselves without a
Wildmage or two to help. And when it comes right down to it, they're going to take care of
themselves and their families first once the trouble starts, aren't they?

"I wouldn't say we're friends, exactly, but I would say I'm the closest thing to a friend you've got.
Right here. Right now. Think about it, Kellen. This is your last chance. After this, you have no choices
left. Think. Use what you've learned. They've all tried to keep the truth from you so you wouldn't
know what the stakes are. Think how hard you've had to work to find out what little you have. Why
is that? So you wouldn't know enough to make a fair choice," Other-Kellen said.

Fair, Kellen thought bitterly. Nothing about this is fair. Nothing had ever been fair and out in the
open, from the moment he'd found the three Books in the Low Market, and hearing all his secret
fears and unworthy hopes in the mouth of this manicured popinjay was the least fair thing of all.

He remembered Jermayan telling him about The Seven - how when they'd faced down the
Endarkened army at the pass of Vel-al-Amion and first beaten them back, the Endarkened had tried
to seduce them to the Dark.

As one of the Endarkened was trying to seduce him now. This, then, was their last line of defense,
and the most compelling of all.

"Well..." Kellen said, walking closer and lifting the keystone in his hands as if he were about to
hand it over. "I guess I really ought to be smart and do what you say."