"Boreal Moon - 02 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

УSilly Eldpapa! I didnТt mean that I would not go, only that I wish no clumsy guardians hindering my freedom.Ф She rose from her stool and took his bony hands in hers. УI rejoice at the opportunity to have a real adventure. Have no fear that I might behave rashly: I value my own skin too much to risk it as a foolhardy boy might do. Even less would I risk losing such a fine reward for my services.Ф She unhanded him and stepped back. УWe must plan everything with care. Come back downstairs, and weТll do it while we eat the sweet berries.Ф
==========
They were two hours out of Elktor, riding at a fast pace over the moorlands towards Beorbrook, when Sulkorig sent out the brief hail.
Snudge let his mount fall behind the others, after making the excuse of an urgent call of nature, then halted beside a peat-stained stream where graylings leapt from the water in pursuit of clouds of gauze-winged insects. The place was also alive with voracious midges, but at least Snudge was able to sit on firm ground while windspeaking.
УIТm ready. You said there was both good news and bad.Ф
The good is that the Tarnian shaman Blind Bozuk has agreed to tell us where Ansel has taken Maude. For reasons of state, the High King has decided to send the shamanТs considerable payment to him by ship, guarded by the Lord Treasurer, and so we will not have BozukТs information immediately.
УFeribor Blackhorse! I wish to God it were anyone but him going to Tarn. He might insert himself into this affair whether King Conrig wills it or not, and the results could be disastrous. The manТs a villain, Vra-Sulkorig, but the king will hear no bad word spoken against him.Ф
HeТs embarking around noon on the high tide, taking the fastest naval frigate available. With luck, he may reach Northkeep, where this rascal Bozuk resides, in four or five days. The agreement is, we hand over half of the sum, and he tells us MaudrayneТs hiding place. ItТs somewhere in the deep interior of Tarn. Lord Feribor wanted to set out after the princess himself with an armed company, but the king has strictly forbidden it and commanded him to wait in Northkeep with the balance of the payment. His Grace has no mistrust of the Lord Treasurer, but rather fears that Ansel Piken would easily discover what Feribor was about and move the princess elsewhere. The king believes you will have better luck outwitting the High Shaman and capturing her than any military force, since you come from an unexpected direction and also have unexpected tactical advantages.
УWell, at least IТll have a solid lead to follow by the time I reach Tarn myself. Now tell me the bad news.Ф
The princess seems to have told her brother all of her secrets. And Liscanor has spilled the beans to the High Sealord. They met earlier this morning at sea and are returning to Donorvale, where Lord Sernin plans to call a secret meeting of his council.
УMy God! All of MaudeТs secrets? Not just the fact of her son being Con-rigТs legitimate heir? Do you mean she actually told her brother of the High KingТsЕ personal problem?Ф
Yes. You neednТt dissemble. IТm aware now that His Grace possesses a small portion of talentЧalthough Zeth knows I would rather be in ignorance. The princess feared that something might happen to her and the boy, Dyfrig, before she could confide in Sernin Donorvale. She was determined that ConrigТs secret should be revealed to the world. Or at least to the sealords of her homeland, so they might use it and Prince Dyfrig as a lever to free themselves from the yoke of the Sovereignty.
УHow has His Grace reacted? Is he there with you?Ф
He has closeted himself in his private apartments to consider his options. The salient fact, of course, is that the Tarnians will have to present incontrovertible proof of both their allegations. This is not as easy as it may seem, especially since they donТt have custody of the princess and her son. So they probably wonТt act in haste.
УAre there any new instructions for me from His Grace?Ф
No. Nor are there likely to be, until the sealords make their first move.
УThen I request that any new messages to me be relayed via Vra-Mattis. Our armigers still remain ignorant of my talent, and I hope also to keep the knowledge from the two Mountain Swordsmen who will join our party later today.Ф
Very well.
УThe only exception will be news of Lord Stergos. ItТs crucial that I bespeak him as soon as possibleЧbut on no account should you say anything of this to the king. There are uncanny forces actively at work on our island, Sulkorig, and not all of them are human. Beynor could not have left the Dawntide Isles without the consent and active assistance of the Salka. I fear that he may intend to use the monsters in an attack against Moss and Queen Ullanoth, now that she is unable to defend herself. And the Salka may not be the only inhuman beings involved in BeynorТs mischief-making.
Surely you donТt refer to the Beaconfolk!
УTell Lord Stergos what IТve said. Beseech him to windspeak me soon. The fate of all High Blenholme may depend on it.Ф
==========
UllanothТs torment was oceanic, ebbing and flowing, sometimes a wild tempest of agony and at other times a flat melancholy devoid of all hope and ambition. She would plunge into the abyss, believing that the end was sure, only to be buoyed up through sweet transparency where the pain was absent. But the sure knowledge that suffering would soon return haunted her like the mocking laughter of a torturer. During the brief respites she was aware of her surroundings, although incapable of movement or speech, and remembered why she had come to this terrible pass.
For his sake. Because he had seemed in desperate need of her help.
In hindsight, she realized that his request that she use Loophole must have been motivated by something more than vengeance upon the two fugitive villains. He had certainly been robbed of DarasiloТs Trove. But his desperation had been real. He had been convinced that she was the only one who could find the pair, and she could not help but respond.
And now she would die and spend eternity in the Hell of Ice because of her foolish, unrequited love.
УO Mother,Ф she prayed, Уwhy was I compelled to do as Conrig asked? Knowing!Ф
It is one of loveТs mysteries.
УAnd your leading me to find those terrible stonesЧwas that, too, a perverse act of love?Ф
No, dear soul. It was an act of necessity.
Suspended in the clear void, resigned to the renewal of pain, she did not realize at first that the voice had a Source other than her fevered imagination.
УMother? Queen Taspiroth? Is it you?Ф
I am not your mother. But I am the one who took on her form and bespoke you in a dream long years ago. I led you to the hidden cache in the fens so that you would not be crushed by the power of your brother Beynor. So that you would become Conjure-Queen and bend the destiny of Conrig Wincantor. Both of you are part of the New Conflict that pits the Pain-Eaters against their enemies.
УPain-Eaters?Ф Her mind was fogged and weary unto death, but the words cut to her mindТs core and kindled a blaze of understanding. УThe Great Lights feed on my pain, and the pain of all who use their sorcery. This came aboutЕ how?Ф
Through the Old Conflict, when the Lights were first divided. One who was very wise and very foolish played a gameЧas his kind have done from time immemorialЧthinking it would bring no great harm to the slow-witted game-pieces. But the gameТs awful potential was seized upon by others. The Source of the game lost control of it, sought help from Likeminded ones who tried to stem the burgeoning calamity, and failed. Vanquished, the Source was degraded and enchained, while the Pain-Eaters ate their fill.
УYou are the one called the Source. Someone spoke of you to me once, long ago. Was it my mother?Ф
Queen Taspiroth was a brilliant sorceress who delved, perhaps too eagerly, into many mysteries. But she was consumed before we could enlist her in our just cause.
УYou speak of a just causeЕ but you still play your game!Ф
War is a game. A contest between two sides. We Likeminded are vastly outnumbered, but we still must fight. I created the channel between the sky and the ground through which the pain flows. I am the One Denied the Sky and only I can lead the Likeminded to close off the channel. You will help me either willingly or not, as others of your race have done, beginning with Emperor Bazekoy.
УI have no choice?Ф
I offer you respite from agony. A temporary oblivion in which you live but have no sentience. Others who have helped us, but come perilously close to the Hell of Ice in the end as you have done, we have snatched to safety in the same manner. You will not die, but your new existence is not true life. Your consolationЧand you will remain aware of it, comforted by itЧis that the hoped-for victory will restore you again to the world you renounced. And that world will no longer be subject to the thrall of the evil Lights.
УWhy me? You let my poor mother fall into Hell.Ф
She clung to the power! You took the first steps in renouncing it. And sadly, her life did not have the potential to bring about change, as yours does.
УI donТt understandЕ and I feel them returning to feed.Ф
Yes. I must tell you that there is a small chance you may survive their present devouring. You might recover your physical strength, as you did many times before, and reenter the world of groundlings. So the choice you must make now is a real one. Will you join in the New Conflict, or trust that the capricious Great Lights will preserve your life once again rather than destroy you?
УIf I let you take me, what will become of my people?Ф
Some will die, but not in the appalling manner that the Lights kill. War is coming, dear soul, which you cannot prevent. It will be fought in the Sky and on
the Ground. If you come to me, the Conflict may be shortened and a good outcome is more likely.
УBut not certain?Ф
No.