"Smith, Wilbur - [Egyptian 03] - Warlock(txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

Warlock [017-066-4.5]

By: Wilbur Smith

Category: Fiction Adventure

Synopsis:

(Follows on rivergod.zip)

Stricken with grief after the death of Queen Lostris, Taita becomes a
hermit, studies the occult and transforms himself into a warlock. He
discovers there has been a divine purpose in his suffering when he is
called upon to save the dynasty of Queen Lostris from the evil that
looms over Egypt.


Like an uncoiling serpent, a line of fighting chariots wound swiftly
down the gut of the valley. From where he clung to the dashboard
of the leading chariot the boy looked up at the cliffs that hemmed
them in. The sheer rock was pierced by the openings to the tombs of
the old people that honeycombed the cliff. The dark pits stared down at
him like the implacable eyes of a legion of djinn. Prince Nefer Memnon
shuddered and looked away, furtively making the sign to avert evil with
his left hand.
Over his shoulder he glanced back down the column and saw that
from the following chariot Taita was watching him through the swirling
clouds of dust. The dust had coated the old man and his vehicle with a
pale film, and a single shaft of sunlight that penetrated to the depths of
this deep valley glittered on the mica particles so that he seemed to
glow like the incarnation of one of the gods. Nefer ducked his head
guiltily, ashamed that the old man had witnessed his fleeting superstitious dread. No royal prince of the House of Tamose should show
such weakness, not now when he stood at the gateway to manhood.
But, then, Taita knew him as no other did, for he had been Nefer's
tutor since infancy, closer to him than his own parents or siblings.
Taita's expression never changed but even at that distance his ancient
eyes seemed to bore into the core of Nefer's being. Seeing all, understanding all.
Nefer turned back and drew himself up to his full height beside his
father, who flipped the reins and urged the horses on with a crack of the
long whip. Ahead of them the valley opened abruptly into the great
amphitheatre that contained the stark and tumbled ruins of the city of
Gallala. Nefer thrilled to his first sight of this famous battlefield. As a
young man Taita himself had fought on this site when the demigod
Tanus, Lord Harrab, had destroyed the dark forces that were threatening
this very Egypt. That had been over sixty years ago but Taita had related
to him every detail of the fight, and so vivid was his storytelling that
Nefer felt as if he had been there on that fateful day.
Nefer's father, the god and Pharaoh Tamose, wheeled the chariot up
to the tumbled stones of the ruined gateway, and reined in the horses.
Behind them a hundred chariots in succession neatly executed the same