"II - Chainer's Torment" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

SCOTT McGOUGH
"CHAINER'S TORMENT"

(Magic: the Gathering. Odyssey cycle. Book II.)


"Kamahl! Are you okay?"
The barbarian waved Chainer off and dropped the rest of
the way down to the ground, trying to evade the pollen.
With his face half-buried in mulch, Kamahl coughed the
pollen out and tried to suck clear forest air in.
Chainer hesitated. He didn't want to leave Kamahl in
the dirt, and he didn't want to face the grendelkin without
support. The huge monster took a step forward and casually
snapped the top off another tree. It used the tree as a
crude club, and it shambled for-ward, slamming into the
ground and other trees with each step. "Poison," Kamahl
choked. His eyes were wet, but he had stopped coughing and
was struggling back to his feet. "There aren't any
poisonous plants in this part of Krosan, Chainer. We're
being set up."

PROLOGUE

Just outside the walls of Cabal City, far from the
crushing waves of people and the ringing shouts in the
marketplace, the young man pressed on. He called himself
Chainer, and for the first time in a long, busy day he was
unscheduled. He picked his way through the dwindling foot
traffic, moving against the flow of people headed into the
city. As he navigated around the last pedestrians in his
path, he relished the rare gifts of free time and solitude.
Without a training exercise to complete, an incantation to
memorize, or a schedule to keep, Chainer was determined not
to be found. He was a member of the Cabal by choice,
ritual, and oath, and the Cabal demanded much from its
initiates. His superiors would pounce on an idle boy
proclaiming, "Nothing to do? I can fix that." Chainer hated
being rewarded for good work with more work. Rather than
waiting for that inevitable hammer to fall, Chainer ducked
down an alley when no one was looking and headed for the
gates.
His pace slowed once he was clear of the city. It had
been so long since he'd had any time to himself that he had
all but forgotten how to enjoy it. He wondered what other
people did when they weren't serving their own masters.
More to the point, what did they do when they weren't
trying their best simply to stay alive?
As he wandered and pondered, Chainer walked through the
squatters' shacks outside the city and into the salt flats