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

the glowing-black sphere, dropped it into his satchel, and
pulled the leather drawstring tight.
The First was undisputed lord and master of the entire
Cabal, patriarch and protector of its members, supreme
controller of its political and magical power. He managed
the Cabal and all its assets from his manor inside the city
walls, and he needed to see the treasure Chainer had
uncovered right away. He alone deserved it.
Chainer's eyes narrowed as he considered the trip back
to Cabal City. It was one thing to walk without fear when
one's pack was empty. Now that he had something worth
stealing, opportunist vermin would swarm around it like
maggots around a corpse. The shame and sin of losing the
sphere before he had a chance to present it to the First
would be unbearable.
Chainer's flare went out, and he stood for a moment in
the darkness. He quickly retraced his steps across the
basement and found his chain where it still hung from
above. He patted the precious cargo at his hip, smiled, and
began to go hand-over-hand up the chain.
Soon he would be back inside the city. He would
petition for an audience with the First. And when the First
laid hands on the black sphere, he would know what Chainer
knew: that Chainer wanted nothing more than for his fate
and his fortune to be forever tied to that of the Cabal.

PART ONE:
Cabalist

CHAPTER 1

The sun was setting by the time Chainer returned to the
salt flats outside the city. He welcomed the sight of his
home but did not relax.
A small armed party stood on the path between Chainer
and the city gates. Chainer recognized one of the shapes as
human and another as an aven bird warrior, but the other
two were indistinct. All Chainer could tell from a distance
was that one was tall and the other was short or crouching.
The human and the aven were dressed in the brilliant white
robes of the Order. Chainer slowed his pace but did not
stop. The Order were a passel of militant moral fanatics
who sought to impose their rules on all the citizens of
Otaria. They considered all Cabalists criminals and the
Cabal itself to be a blight on society, despite the fact
that it thrived all across the continent. Civilized
Otarians everywhere did business with the Cabal. They
willingly and repeatedly attended Cabal spectacles,
borrowed Cabal money, and begged for Cabal protection. As
far as Chainer was concerned, the Order only offered the