"Andrew J. Offutt - Cormac 01 - The Mists of Doom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

The Mists of Doom
Andrew J. Offutt
ACE FANTASY BOOKS
NEW YORK

to
Jodie of the Erin-born
until further notice



Introduction
With Gratitude
Though this novel appears as the fourth in the series, it is technically the first in that cycle of the Irish hero of
the late fifth century, Cormac mac Art. Herein is chronicled all the information we have concerning CormacтАЩs
early life, his youth, the death of his father and the orphaned youthтАЩs employment in Leinster as warriorтАФand
the events that led up to CormacтАЩs long series of adventures away from his beloved homeland; the reaver or
pirate Robert E. Howard wrote of in Tigers of the Sea.
If you are discovering Cormac for the first time, this is the beginning and the best place to begin the cycle. If
youтАЩve been with us through Tigers of the Sea and OffuttтАЩs Sword of the Gael, The Undying Wizard, and Sign
of the Moonbow, you will surely welcome this look into CormacтАЩs originsтАФincluding his first meeting with
Samaire of Leinster.
Accounts of the later events of CormacтАЩs adventurous life were found and authenticated with relative ease.
The stories had been passed down orally in the Irish tradition and more than one writer of the fifth through
tenth centuries had written of his exploits: as commander of a crew of piratic reavers and the subsequent
years as reaver with Wulfhere the Dane; of his adventures in Britain and Denmark and the little kingdom of
Galicia; among the Tuatha de Danann within the Emerald Isle; of his crossing of life-paths with Arthur of
Britain and with Hengist, among the first of those from oversea to carve out sword-lands in Britain to become
England, of the matter of the sigil-ring of Egypt; of his perilous struggles with such sorcerers as Thulsa
Doom, Tarmur Roag, Lucanor of Antioch, and others.
Some of these adventures have appeared in the books previously mentioned; others are to follow as Offutt
and Zebra Books continue to present the cycle for the modern reader.
More difficult to unearth were the facts of his youth, before he became the famous reaver, bane of sorcerers,
and Champion of Eirrin. The task of tracking down and assembling these accounts fell to my friend Geo. W.
Proctor.
Like Howard who first discovered and began chronicling the Cormac cycle, Proctor is a Texan and a lover of
high adventure, particularly heroic fantasy. His own tales of weapon-men and images are included in my
anthologies of new heroic fantasy, Swords Against Darkness, and he is working on his own novels.
It was Geo. Proctor who tirelessly tracked down, along vermiculate paths leading into and through numerous
sources, Macghnimhartha na Cormaic: The Youthful Deeds of Cormac. From a crumbling monastery near
Cashel came the scraps of laboriously recopiedтАФin Latin! тАФmanuscript, Partha na Lagen, and realized that
this тАЬPartha (mac Othna) of Laigin or LeinsterтАЭ was indeed Cormac, written of as his cloak-name or alias.
From the musty library of an aged scholarтАФnow deceasedтАФliving near Dublin that was Dubh-linn (and
formerly Baile Atha Cliath or Ath-Cliath), came into ProctorтАЩs hands the nigh-unreadable Longes mac Airt: the
Exile of ArtтАЩs Son. In the Leinsterish archives is proudly recorded Tain Bo an Ard Riogh: The Cattle-Raid of
the High-king or the Driving off of the High-kingтАЩs Kine.
Laboriously Proctor checked and cross-checked, questioned and collected, compiled and discarded, and