"Douglas Niles - Forgotten Realms - Moonshae 02 - Black Wizard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niles Douglas)

disturbance penetrated their rest. The flowers in the garden closed their
petals. In the pond, the lilies shivered and shifted away from the sinister
pres-
BLACK WIZARDS
ences, until all of the blossoms had gathered against the far shore like a
nervous flock of sheep.
Suddenly, a cackle of glee passed the man's lips, and he jumped in fright.
Panicked, he jerked his head about, straining to hear if he had been detected.
Carefully, he wrapped the object in its filthy pouch and lay down again upon
the bed of grasses.
Within the cottage, two hundred feet away, Genna thrashed in her sleep,
apparently caught in the throes of a nightmare.
And Robyn sat up suddenly, drenched with sweatтАФfor she had just awakened from
a numbing nightmare of her own. She had dreamed of the king, her step-father,
laid upon his funeral bier. Surrounding him, descending slowly, was an
unspeakably menacing black mist.
She could not return to sleep for the rest of the night.
"Tb Good King Kendrick. May the goddess reward him!" Lord Pontswain raised his
mug, allowing foam to spill onto the broad tabletop.
The council of lords was meeting in Caer Corwell's great hall, for the royal
study was not large enough to accommodate the gathered throng. The lords
represented the villages and towns of the small kingdom, from tiny highland
communities to thriving fishing cantrevs. They sat drinking dark ale in toast
to their deceased sovereign.
All thirty-one of Corwell's cantrev lords had gathered at the castle to decide
upon the future ruler of the kingdom. Tristan, as host, sat at the head of the
table. Daryth sat to his right, while Randolph, in his role as captain of the
castle guard, stood at the nearby door. Opposite Tristan, twoscore feet away,
sat Friar Nolan, the cleric of the new gods who had won over some of the Ff
oik of Corwell. Most of the Ff oik still held the Earthmother goddess to be
the supreme deity, but as a rule her representatives, the druids, shunned
human politics, and thus none were present.
Lord Galric lurched to his feet, splashing half the contents of his mug into
the lap of the scowling Lord Koart, who sat beside him. As usual, Galric was
drunk, and Tristan sup-
DOUGLAS NILES
pressed a smileтАФat least one of his rivals was ill-prepared to debate him.
"King Ken'rick," shouted Galric. "A splennid ruler 'n a fine figger of a man!"
"Hear! Hear!" The chorus of agreements was followed by more slurping swallows
around the table.
Tristan examined the other lords, trying to determine who was most likely to
offer him a challenge. Nearby sat Lord Koart and Lord Dynnatt. Neither had
acquitted himself well during the war, and Tristan hoped this fact would be
enough to mark them as unfit to rule. He knew them both to be ambitious,
however, and the two lords were close friendsтАФhe had to beware of a potential
coalition.
Farther down the table, Lord Galric's head was already dropping onto his
chest. Galric ruled over a highland can-trev that had amassed considerable
wealth from the mininf of copper, iron, and silver. In any event, the lord was
now too drunk to make a case for himself.