"Julian May - The Pliocene Exiles 04 - The Adversary" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

in the making of all torcs. Felice, who showed increasing
symptoms of a severe psychosis, obtained a golden torc for
herself from the ruins of Finiah. The mental amplifier unlocked
the stupendous powers of coercion, psychokinesis, and creativity
that had been latent in her brain, and fuelled the girl's fierce
desire for revenge upon the Tanu.

The next phase of Madame's plan involved an infiltration of
the torc factory in the Tanu capital, Muriah, and a parallel

operation that had as its objective the permanent closing of the
time-gate.

Madame and ten other conspirators, including Felice, Claude,
Sister Amerie, and Basil Wimborne--who had been rescued
during the fall of Finiah--now set out on a long trip south. They
took with them the laserlike Spear of Lugonn. Its energies had
been totally discharged during the Finiah operation, but they
hoped that their clever Group Green companion, Aiken Drum,
would be able to recharge it when they appealed to him for
assistance down in the Tanu capital.

Aiken--together with Elizabeth, Bryan, Stein, and the other
privileged captives--had encountered an utterly different face
of the Many-Coloured Land upon their arrival in Muriah some
weeks past. They were presented to the Tanu aristocracy at a
lavish feast, where they were treated at first like honoured guests
instead of slaves.

Elizabeth was told by Thagdal, the King, that she would first
be initiated into Tanu ways by Brede Shipspouse, the enigmatic
guardian of both exotic races. When this was accomplished, she
and the King would found a new dynasty of torcless, fully
operant Tanu-human hybrids. (Queen Nontusvel seemed
entirely agreeable to this plan, in spite of the fact that her own
large brood of powerful adult children would undoubtedly be
overshadowed by Elizabeth's offspring.)

Bryan the anthropologist was ordered to make a study of the
impact of humanity upon the Tanu socioeconomy. King Thagdal
believed that human genes and human innovation had been a
boon to the Tanu, and he expected Bryan's survey to vindicate
his policy encouraging interbreeding and the adoption of certain
human inventions. A minority Tanu faction, headed by Nodonn
Battlemaster, the most powerful son of Nontusvel and heir
presumptive, maintained that the exotic culture was being
poisoned by human influences.

As the "welcoming" banquet progressed, it became clear that
a grim fate was in store for Stein Oleson, the brawny ex-driller