"Michael Moorcock - Corum 1 - The Knight Of The Swords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

One day he sought teis son, Prince Corum, in a chamber where music was formed by the arranging of hollow tubes, vibrating wires and shifting stones. The very simple, quiet music was almost drowned by the sound of Khlonskey's feet on the tapestries, the tap of teis staff and the rustle of the breath in teis thin throat. '
Prince Corum withdrew teis attention from the music and gave teis fatteer a look of polite enquiry.
`Fatteer?'
`Corum. Forgive the interruption.'
'Of course. Besides, I was not satisfied with the work.' Corum rose from teis cushions and drew teis scarlet robe about him.
`It occurs to me, Corum, that I will soon visit the Chamber of Vapours,' said Prince Khlonskey, `and, in reaching this decision, I had it in mind to indulge a whim of mine. However, I will need your help.'
Now Prince Corum loved teis fatteer and respected teis decision, so he said gravely: `That help is yours, Father. What can I do?'
`I would know something of the fate of my kinsmen. Of Prince Opash, who dwells at Castle Sam in the East. Of Princess Lorim, who is at Castle Crachah in the South. And of Prince Faguin of Castle Gal in the North.'
Prince Corum frowned. `Very well, Father, if. . .'
`I know, son, what you think - that I could discover what I wish to know by occult means. Yet this is not so. For some reason it is difficult to achieve intercourse with the other planes. Even my perception of them is dimmer than it should be, try as I might to enter them with my senses. And to enter them physically is almost impossible. Perhaps it is my age. . .'
`No, Father,' said Prince Corum, `for I, too, have found


18 The Knight of the Sugords

it difcult. Once it was easy to move through the Five Planes at will. With . a little more effort the Ten Planes could be contacted, though, as you know, few could visit them physically. Now I am unable to do more than see and occasionally hear those other four planes which, with ours, form the spectrum through which our planet directly. passes in its astral cycle. I do not understand why this loss of sensibility has come about.' .
`And neither do I,' agreed his father. `But I feel that it must be portentous. It indicates some major change in the nature of our Earth. This is the chief reason why I would discover something of my relatives and, perhaps, learn if they know why our senses become bound to a single plane. It is unnatural. It is crippling to us. Are we to become like the beasts of this plane, which are aware only of one dimension and have no understanding that the others exist at all? Is some process of devolution at work? Shall our children know nothing of our experiences and slowly return to the state of those aquatic mammals from which our race sprang? I will admit to you, my son, that there are traces of fear in my mind.'
Prince Corum did not attempt to reassure his father. `I read once of the Blandhagna,' he said thoughtfully. `They were a race based on the Third Plane. A people of great sophistication. But something took hold of their genes and of their brains and, within five generations, they had reverted to a species of flying reptile still equipped with a vestige of their former intelligence - enough to make them mad and, ultimately, destroy themselves completely. What is it, I wonder, that produces these reversions?'
`Only the Sword Rulers know,' his father said.
Corum smiled. `And the Sword Rulers do not exist. I understand your concern, Father. You would have me visit these kinsmen of yours and bring them our greetings. I should discover if they fare weil and if they have noticed

Book one 19

what we have noticed at our Castle Erorn.'
His father nodded. `If our perception dims to the level of a Mabden, then there is little point in continuing our race. Find out, too, if you can, how the Nhadragh fare - if this dullness of the senses comes to them.'
`Our races are of more or less equal age,' Corum murmured. `Perhaps they are similarly afflicted. But did not your kinsman Shulag have something to say, when he visited you sonve centuries back?'
`Aye. Shulag had it that the Mabden had come in ships from the West and subjugated the Nhadragh, killing most and making slaves of those remaining. Yet I find it hard to believe that the Mabden half-beasts, no matter how great Iheir numbers, would have the wit to defeat Nhadragh cunning.'
Prince Corum pursed his lips reflectively. `Possibly they grew complacent,' be said.
His father tunned to leave the chamber, his staff of nuby and platinum tapping softly on the richly embroidered cloth covering the flagstones, his delicate hand clutching it more tightly than usual. `Complacency is one thing,' be said, `and fear of an impossible doom is another. Both, of course, are ultimately destructive. We need speculate no more, for on your return you may bring us answers to these questions. Answers that we can understand. When would you leave?'
`I have it in mind to complete my symphony,' Prince Corum said. `That will take another day or so. I will leave on the morning after the day I finish it.'
Prince Khlonskey nodded his old head in satisfaction. `Thank you, my son.'
When he had gone, Prince Corum returned his attention to his music, but he found that it was difficuit for him to concentrate. His imagination began to focus on the quest he had agreed to undertake. A certain emotion took hold
20 The Knight of the Sovords

of him. He believed that it must be excitement. When he embarked on the quest, it would be the first time in his life that he had left the environs of Castle Erorn.
He attempted to calm himself, for it was against the customs of his people to allow an excess of emotion.
`It will be instructive,' he murmured to himself, 'to see. the rest of this continent. I wish that geography had interested me more. I scarcely know the outlines of Broнan-Vadhagh, let alone the rest of the world. Perhaps I should study some of the maps and travellers' tales in the library. Yes, I will go there tomorrow, or perhaps the next day.'
No sense of urgency filled Prince Corum, even now. The Vadhagh being a long-lived people, they were used to acting at leisure, considering their actions before performнing them, spending weeks or months in meditation before embarking on some study or creative work.
Prince Corum then decided to abandon his symphony on which he had been working for the past four years. Perhaps he would take it up again on his return, perhaps not. It was of no great consequence.

CHAPTER TWO

Prince Corum Sets Forth

And so, with the hooves of his horse hidden by the white mist of the morning, Prince Corum rode out from Castle Erorn to begin his quest.
The pale light softened the lines of the castle so that it seemed, more than ever, to merge with the great high rock on which it stood and the trees that grew beside the path

Book one 21

down which Corum rode also appeared to melt and mingle with the mist so that the landscape was a silent vision of gentle golds and greens and greys tinged with the pink rays of a distant, hidden sun. And, from beyond the rock, the sea, cloaked by the mist, could be heard retreating from the shore.