"Andre Norton & Lackey, Mercedes - Elvenbane 1 -The Elvenbane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

belongings of their own, she could make a fortune in preaching. You could
tell them anything as long as it sounded impressive and mysterious, and
they'd believe it.

"And in the end," she concluded, her voice rising, "the child shall rise up
against the masters and cast them into the lowest hell, there to make of them
slaves to the demons of hell!"

The girl stepped an involuntary pace forward, fascinated in spite of herself.
Her-eyes were bright with mingled fear and excitement, and her curly hair
damp with nervous sweat. Alara looked straight into her eyes, and thrust a
bony finger at her.
"Hear the words of the Prophecy!" she shrieked, as the girl jumped back.
"Hear them and heed them!"

"Jena! What's going on down there?" a deep female voice scolded from the
top of the staircase.

Young Jena jumped again, and went pale and frightened. "N-nothing!" she
called back.

"Then who the hell are you talking to?"

"I--uh--" The girl looked at Alara in confusion; Alara remained silent and
statue-still.

"Get your rump up here now, girl!"

Jena looked helplessly at Alara, and scampered up the stairs as fast as her
legs could carry her.

But when she came back down, trembling with fear, the kitchen overseer
behind her, there was no sign of a mysterious old woman. In fact, there was
no sign of anyone at all.

But there wax one extra wine cask, if anyone had bothered to count...

And shortly thereafter, twenty or thirty witnesses, including two elven
overseers, saw a Great Kite launch itself from the roof of the manor. It rose
into a bloody sunset, wings blotting out the sun itself, screaming doom down
upon the Clan of V'Larn.

That was fun, Alara decided, even if the rest of the Lair would have had a fit
about the shaman risking herself like that.

The elven lords suppressed the Prophecy and those who spread it whenever
they could--but the best way to spread something is to try to outlaw it, as
they found to their frustration. It was hard to do anything about it when it
was being spread by old men and women who vanished into thin air--and
the more they punished those who had listened to the forbidden words, the