"04.Bloodlines" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

Loren L. Coleman
"Bloodlines"

(Magic: the Gathering. Artifact cycle. Book IV.)


Preface
THE LEGACY

Barrin paused in the classroom's open doorway, his
charitable mood fading.
Barely an hour returned to the Tolarian Academy, the
master mage had decided to walk a quick tour of the main
building before retiring, a habit he formed over his many
years as the academy's chief administrator. Tonight it
possessed the added benefit of giving Rayne a chance to finish
her own unpacking. Her private apartment was not far down
Scholar's Row from his own, and when she finished, he thought,
they might linger over a second exchange of goodnights
Seeing light spilling down the tiled hallway, Barrin
decided to offer assistance to what was certainly tutors up
late preparing the next day's lessons. Students, of course,
obeyed a strict curfew, and the academy's full scholars
rarely, if ever, required such late-night preparations. Rayne
was likely to be waiting for him-a slight twinge against his
conscience-but he knew that in his place she also would be
checking in to offer advice. Besides, adding his personal
touch helped to keep Barrin in contact with the daily
functions of the academy. This had been, after all, his first
real leave of absence.
The first thing Barrin noticed was that someone had
punched a new door into the classroom. The rough hole in the
previously complete wall stood open, not even framed, and at
odds with the smooth plaster and elegant woodwork finishes put
on academy facilities. A curiosity turned slightly alarming
when he recognized the room beyond contained Urza's primary
laboratory. That alarm lasted mere seconds, as Urza himself
walked from the back room followed by the silver golem Karn.
Both of them carried books and scrolls which they added to a
growing pile surrounding the lectern. Barrin frowned over the
activity. His scowl deepened as he realized that Urza was too
distracted to have yet noticed the mage's presence-a fact
which should have been instantly registered by the
planeswalker's preternatural senses. A distracted Urza could
be a most dangerous thing.
The man standing in front of Barrin was known throughout
history as the defiler of Argoth and the harbinger of the Ice
Age, though Urza himself could not-or would not-admit with one
hundred percent certainty that the global catastrophe resulted
from his efforts. Barrin was inclined to give the planeswalker