"Douglas Niles - Druidhome 2 - The Coral Kingdom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niles Douglas)

"You might be onto something," admitted Lord Pawldo.
They quickly mounted, and the horses needed little urging to enter the cold, slow-moving, water. They
crossed in single file and soon emerged onto the far bank.
"It doesn't look nearly so steep from here!." the princess noted. The slope still climbed away from them,
but at a much more gentle angle than before. It looked as if they would have no difficulty walking, though
she still doubted that they could ride. Still, she urged her horse forward, and the animal climbed smoothly up
a gradual incline. The waterfalls that had trickled downward had disappeared, though the river remained
deep and regal beside her. Then, in a flash, the princess understood.
"The river! It comes from here. It looks like a trickle from over there, but this is the real valley! That
ravine we followed before is just a little side stream!"
In moments, the excitement of the truth propelling them, they moved forward at a trot, climbing the
slowly ascending valley on a much better trail than the illusionary diversion they had followed earlier. It
turned out to be an even more gentle grade that Alicia had perceived from this side of the stream. The
farther they progressed, the more normal the valley around them became.
As they rode, however, Robyn dampened their joy somewhat with an explanation of the spell she had
used to find the path. "It was a very strong emanation of evil," she told them. "We have to proceed with
caution."
They rode with unsuppressed urgency, fearing what they would find, yet eager to make the discovery.
They crossed the highland ridge, and finally the shimmering vista of Synnoria opened before them. In the
distance, they saw the blue lake in the center of the main valley, the city of glass gleaming in the sunlight on
a verdant island. A wooded side valley passed before them, and the trail dropped steeply toward its floor.
They urged the horses down the path at a dangerous pace.
As they plunged lower, Robyn remained alert for any of the seductive effects of Synnoria she had
encountered before. But the wind that blew past her ears seemed mundane, and nothing like magic twinkled
in the shaking branches of the trees. If anything, it seemed as if they rode into a place of oppression and
fear.
When they came to the trail of splintered trees, many of them more than an armspan in girth, the
damage seemed like a monstrous effrontery to this place of beauty. They rode at a gallop now, unspeaking,
following the spoor left by something of tremendous proportion and horribly destructive in its passage.
Finally they broke from the enclosing trees, and several of their horses reared in sudden fright. Pools of
water, churned to mud, dotted the field. Thousands of colorful fish flopped helplessly in the mud,
suffocating. Across the meadow rose a thing that, at first, Alicia mistook for a small domed building.
Then the building moved.

* * * * *

Talos and Malar relished the rampage of the Elf-Eater, vicariously feeding their evil natures on the killing
and destruction wrought by their pet. The two gods were well pleased, but for different reasonsтАФTalos, for
the blow struck to the Moonshaes; and Malar, for the destruction in the great elven escape path.
Yet the Destructor had other plans to make, and to this end he summoned his avatar, bidding Sinioth to
appear in a guise of master in his new domain. Thus, beneath the waters of the Trackless Sea,
Coss-Axell-Sinioth assumed the shape of a proper creature. Long tentacles trailed from his head, and a
beaklike mouth clamped shut with crushing power. As large as a good-sized ship, the giant squid waited to
hear his master's words.
 At the same time, Talos summoned Sythissal, king of the sahuagin, into his immortal presence. The scaly
creature, his humanoid body layered with supple sinew, a column of bristling spines extending down his
back, soon floated before the squid.
"This is your master," came the voice of Talos, like a distant landslide rumbling under the sea. "You will
obey him in all his commands.
"The two of you must journey to Kyrasti, to the great city of the sea trolls in the Coral Kingdom. There,