"Tim Lebbon - Dusk 02 - Dawn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lebbon Tim)

had become shadows of themselves: mad old things who showed only occasional flashes of their former
brilliance and brutality. Ensconced in their volcano retreat on DanaтАЩMan, they had been fading away,
though they had still retained a certain power. Things that once ruled a land could never lose that. But
their glories had been vanishing into history, and the more time passed, the more LenoraтАЩs impressions of
them had been dictated by memory. The MagesтАЩ power had become a self-perpetuating myth in her own
mind.

Now that they had taken back their own, Lenora no longer had to rely on memory.

Angel still clasped the body of the farm boy to her chest, like a mother mourning her dead child. She had
cut open his skull, then she and SтАЩHivez had torn into his torso, searching for something vital amongst his
brains and flesh. From that moment, Lenora had felt the raw power surging from them, and they became
true Mages for the first time in three hundred years. They had moved bones and organs aside, found
what they sought and eaten it.

Then they had seemed to grow, though their size never changed. They remained silent, contemplative,
and everything suddenly seemed to flow through rather than around them. And later, when dawn should
have been ushering away the night, Angel and SтАЩHivez had cursed the sky.

Angel had been holding the boyтАЩs tattered corpse ever since.

The hawk had died moments after they finished rooting through the boyтАЩs insides, and Lenora thought
they would fall. But then SтАЩHivez had buried his arms in the creatureтАЩs neck, delving inside just as he had
probed the dead boyтАЩs carcass, and the creature had risen again, bearing them northward.

Going away,a voice said. Lenora looked around, squinting against the wind. She had heard that voice
intermittently since the fight with the Monks and machines, and she knew what it was: her dead, unnamed
daughterтАЩs shade still craving the comfort of her motherтАЩs arms. Lenora buried her face in the hawkтАЩs
stiffening hide and cried tears tainted with anger. She lifted her head slightly and her tears were caught on
the wind, blown into NoreelaтАЩs skies. She hoped they would spread and fall with the next rains, casting
her sorrow across plains and valleys, mountains and lakes, where vengeance would be hers. They were a
long way from Robenna, and it was falling farther behind with every heartbeat. But now that she knew
she would return, the heat of revenge was growing brighter within her heart.

The people of Robenna had driven her out, poisoned her and murdered her unborn child. Given time,
their descendants would pay.

тАЬDreaming of death and vengeance, Lenora?тАЭ

Lenora looked up into AngelтАЩs eyes. The Mage had crawled back along the hawkтАЩs spine and now sat
astride its huge tail, her face a handтАЩs width from LenoraтАЩs. She was beautiful. Whatever time had done
to her, she had undone. The might of new magic flickered behind her eyes, and its potential seemed to
light her from within.

Lenora tried to speak, but she was lost for words.

тАЬDonтАЩt worry,тАЭ Angel said. She drew closer still, until her blazing eyes encompassed the whole world.
тАЬSo am I.тАЭ

тАЬMistressтАжтАЭ