"Michael Moorcock - Runestaff 4 - The Runestaff" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

of soul and mad of brain; haters of all that
was not in decay; wielders of power without
moralityтАФforce without justice; the Barons of
Granbretan carried the standard of their King
Emperor Huon across the continent of Eu-
rope and made that continent their property;
carried the banner to West and East to other
continents to which they also laid claim. And
it seemed that no force, either natural or
supernatural, was strong enough to halt the
insane and deadly tide. Indeed, none now
resisted them at all. With chuckling pride
and cold contempt they demanded whole
nations as tribute and the tribute was paid.
In all the subdued lands few hoped. Of those,
fewer dared express hopeтАФand among those
few hardly a single soul possessed the courage
to murmur the name symbolizing that hope.
The name was Castle Brass.
Those who spoke the name understood its
implications, for Castle Brass was the only
stronghold to remain unvanquished by the
warlords of Granbretan, and Castle Brass
housed heroes; men who had fought the Dark
Empire, whose names were loathed and hated
by the brooding Baron Meliadus, Grand Con-
stable of the Order of the Wolf, Commander
of the Army of Conquest, for it was known
that Baron Meliadus fought a private feud
with those heroes, particularly the legendary
Dorian Hawkmoon von Koln who was mar-

ried to the woman Meliadus desired, Yis-
selda, daughter of Count Brass of Castle Brass.
But Castle Brass had not defeated the armies
of Granbretan, it had merely evaded them,


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disappearing by means of a strange, ancient
crystal machine into another dimension of
the Earth, where those heroes, Hawkmoon,
Count Brass, Huillam D'Averc, Oladahn of
the Bulgar Mountains and their handful of
Kamargian men-at-arms, now sheltered, and
most folk felt that the heroes of the Kamarg
had deserted them forever. They did not
blame them, but their hope waned fainter