"Anne Logston - Shadow 02 - Shadow Hunt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Logston Anne)

"Rumors of his wealth grew great, fueled by his heavy protections, and
it was said that his keep held more wondrous secrets, taken during the
wars, then the High Lord's own palace. Several thieves tried and failed to
steal this treasure; most tried and died. But one escaped, nearly dead,
murmuring of a wondrous dagger that held incredible power and the
secret of eternal life.
 "I can only speculate that this rumor fell upon a certain pair of ears and
this person, Fortune alone knows how, penetrated Baloran's defenses and
snatched the aforementioned dagger," Shadow continued. "A
not-inconsiderable testimony to her ability. When this person gained the
dagger, however, she learned that the dagger itself was merely another of
Baloran's traps. True, it could bestow immortality; its ownerтАФor
prisonerтАФhad the ability to drain life from others and into herself. And
true, it bestowed great power upon the one who wielded it, for the dagger
was in actuality the embodiment of a captive demon who was sworn to
serve the wielder in all ways and feed on the souls of those the dagger slew.

"But there was a catch, for once the dagger was touched the owner
could never be rid of it, and upon her death, the demon in the dagger
would be freed and her own soul would go to replace it, to be freed in turn
only when another poor dupe had been enslaved to the dagger and died."

Shadow took a deep breath and a swallow of wine.

"Actually, you can almost admire this fellow Baloran," she mused. "He
must be incredibly clever to have pulled off this latest trick, and quite
powerful to have come up with a binding like that dagger.

"Anyway, as a natural consequence, the new owner of the dagger took
up as an assassin. This solved several problems: it let her accrue years of
life by way of payment; it let her keep her demon dagger well fed and
happy; it kept her comfortably wealthy; and it probably indulged a natural
bloodthirstiness, to my way of thinking. Baloran left Allanmere for parts
until now unknown, probably worried that the thief who stole the dagger
could breach his defenses again in search of revenge.

"Well, tell meтАФhow near right am I?" Shadow said at last.

"Very near to the truth," Blade said quietly. "And even nearer to death.
I have killed many over the years for less knowledge than you have spoken
in this room tonight."

Shadow raised an eyebrow but appeared otherwise unaffected by
Blade's statement.

"You said you'd hear me out completely," she reminded Blade. "Haven't
I made you the least bit curious?"
 Blade's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.