"03 The Coming of Chaos 03 - The King of The Swords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

The Book of Corum, Volume 3
The King of The Swords
by Michael Moorcock

THE BOOKS OF CORUM

Being a History in Three Volumes Concerning
the Quests and Adventures of Corum Jhaelen
Irsei of the Vadhagh Folk, Who Is Also
Called the Prince in the Scarlet Robe

Volume the Third

THE KING OF THE SWORDS
by Michael Moorcock

INTRODUCTION

In those days there were oceans of light and cities in the
skies and wild flying beasts of bronze. There were herds of
crimson cattle that roared and were taller than castles.
There were shrill, viridian things that haunted bleak rivers.
It was a time of gods, manifesting themselves upon out
world in all her aspects; a time of giants who walked on
water; of mindless sprites and misshapen creatures who
could be summoned by an ill-considered thought but driven
away only on pain of some fearful sacrifice; of magics,
phantasms, unstable nature, impossible events, insane
paradoxes, dreams come true, dreams gone awry, of
nightmares assuming reality.

It was a rich time and a dark time. The time of the
Sword Rulers. The time when the Vadhagh and the
Nhadragh, age-old enemies, were dying. The time when
Man, the slave of fear, was emerging, unaware that much
of the terror he experienced was the result of nothing else
but the fact that he, himself, had come into existence. It
was one of many ironies connected with Man (who, in
those days, called his race Mabden).

The Mabden lived brief lives and bred prodigiously.
Within a few centuries they rose to dominate the westerly
continent on which they had evolved. Superstition stopped
them from sending many of their ships toward Vadhagh
and Nhadragh lands for another century or two, but
gradually they gained courage when no resistance was
offered. They began to feel jealous of the older races; they
began to feel malicious.

The Vadhagh and the Nhadragh were not aware of this.