"Will McDermott - Magic the Gathering - Odyssey Cycle 03 - Judgement" - читать интересную книгу автора (McDermott Will)

Judgment
Will McDermott
Magic: the Gathering, Odyssey Cycle, Book 3

2002

Scanned, formatted and proofed by Dreamcity
Ebook version 1.0
Release Date: December, 18, 2003
CHAPTER 1
Kamahl stared at the black spot on the floor where his friend's body had been just moments before.
The spot that had once held a tortured soul now held nothing more than charcoal and dust. Kamahl hadn't
killed his friend, he had merely sent his body on to Fiers. No. Kuberr. That was the god of the Cabal. "Well,
Kuberr. I hope you'll accept a body sent to you by a proper barbarian funeral pyre," grumbled the big
barbarian as he knelt to honor his fallen friend a moment longer. "Chainer, you once wondered if you would
have made a good barbarian. Perhaps I have sent you to Fiers after all, so you can find out. Wouldn't that
be the final irony of our friendship?"
Kamahl scraped his brass-skinned hand through the dust chat once was his friend and clenched a
pinch of the blackened powder in his fist. After wetting the index finger of his other hand, he jabbed it into
the cavity of the fist-into the remains of Chainer in his palm. He then withdrew the finger, now covered in
wet, black dust, and brought it up to the bridge of his nose. Pressing the black paste against his skin, he
drew a line down over his nose to his mouth and then stuck the finger into his mouth to suck off the
remaining dust. Kamahl repeated the process three more times, drawing black, smudgy lines on both cheeks
and across his forehead.
"I send you on to Fiers but keep a part of you with me to guide my way to the Brass Halls, where we
will all remain after the return of the Lady," he intoned. For the first time in his life, Kamahl found himself
hoping that the old dwarven legends were true. "Perhaps you can find peace there, Chainer, even if it does
mean eternal life amongst the dwarves."
As Kamahl rose from the ritual, he glanced once again at the Mirari, still lying on the floor where
Chainer had dropped it right before the end. It seemed like an eternity since he had first seen that accursed
orb. Kamahl was still full of hope at the possibilities that the power of the Mirari could bring, if only he could
gain it for himself.
"Full of hope and full of pride," the barbarian said to his friend's ashes. No. Kamahl hadn't killed
Chainer. His friend had died when he became a slave to that power. The one man who had ever wielded
the power of the Mirari and survived had been consumed by that power in the end. How could Kamahl
ever hope to find the strength to control that much power?
He must try. He had made a promise to a friend. An oath. And death does not revoke an oath, it
forges the bonds of the oath into steel. Standing over the small, fist-sized orb that he had chased across a
continent and back, Kamahl hesitated but a moment before leaning down and swiping it into his hand.
Once he held the Mirari, Kamahl wondered why he had ever hesitated. It was the most beautiful
object in the world. The Mirari drew his gaze down into its sleek, steely depths, down into a world where
rust-colored mountains met cool, azure skies, down into a world where he stood at the top of the tallest
mountain, his huge sword held high with the Mirari attached to its pommel, silver light streaming out from it
in all directions, down into a world where barbarians from every tribe bowed before him, cheering his name.
Holding his sword point down before him, Kamahl smiled as he looked from the Mirari to the great
mountain, from the barbarian throngs at his feet to the cloudless, blue sky above him. His smile faded. For
high in the sky, Kamahl could see the face of a barbarian staring down at him-a face with four coal-black
lines freshly drawn across the nose, cheeks, and forehead. His face.
Kamahl shook his head to clear the vision from his mind. "No! That path leads to madness," said the
tired and inured barbarian as he dropped the orb back into the rubble. "That path leads to destruction."