"Sheri S. Tepper - The True Game 2 - Necromancer Nine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

"He beguiled me," I mused. "Why me? There were smarter boys, better-looking boys."
"He was clever. Perhaps he noticed something, some little indication of our relationship. Well. It
doesn't matter now. You're past all that. Mandor is shut up in Bannerwell, and you want to find Mavin
Manyshaped. It will be difficult. You'll have to go alone."
I had not considered that. I had assumed Chance would go with me wherever I went.
"No, you can't take Chance. Mavin may make it somewhat easier for you to find her, but she will
not trust anyone else. Here," he said and handed me a fold of parchment. "I've written out the directions."

Periplus of a city which fears the unborn.
Hear of a stupration incorporeal.
In that place a garment defiled
and an eyeless Seer.
Ask him the name of the place from which he came
and the way from it.
Go not that way.
Befriend the shadows and beware of friends.
Walk on fire but do not swim in water.
Seek Out sent-far's monument, but do not look upon it.
In looking away, find me.

"It makes no sense," I cried, outraged. "No sense at all!"
"Go to Havajor Dike," he said soothingly. "Then north from there. She would not have made the
directions too difficult for either of us, Peter. She does not want to be lost forever, only very difficult to
find. You'll be able to ravel it out, line by line. There is only one caution I must give you."
He waited until he saw that he had my full attention, then made his warning, several times. "Do not
go near Pfarb Durim. If you go to the north or northwest, do not go near that place, nor near the place
they call Poffle which is, in truth, known as Hell's Maw." He patted me on the shoulder, and when I
asked curious questions, as he must have known I would, said, "It is an evil place. It has been evil for
centuries. We thought it might change when old Blourbast was gone, but it remains evil today. Mavin
would not send you near itтАФsimply avoid it!" And that was all he would say about that.
We went down into the kitchens, sat there in the warmth of that familiar place, eating grole sausage
and cheese with bread warm from the baking. It was a comforting time, a sweet time, and it lasted only a
little while. For Gervaise came bustling in, his iron-tipped staff making a clatter upon the stones.
"An Elator has come, Mertyn," he cried. "He demands to see you at once. He comes from the
Bright Demesne..."
So we went up as quickly as possible to find an Elator there, one I knew well, Himaggery's trusted
messenger.
"Gamesmaster," he said, "the Wizard Himaggery and the old Seer, Windlow, have vanished."
"Vanished?" It was an echo of my own voice saying that word, but this time we were not talking of
Shifters. Mertyn asked again, "What do you mean, vanished?"
"They went to Windlow's rooms after the evening meal, sir, asking that wine be sent to them there.
When the steward arrived, the room was disturbed but empty. We searched the Demesne, but they are
both gone
"Why have you come first to me?"
"Gamesmaster, I was told by the Wizard some time since that if anything untoward should happen, I
was to come to you."
"Windlow told me," I cried. "Just before I left. That's what he meant when he said they would need
your help soon. That word would reach you."
"I warned them," Mertyn grated. "I warned them they might be next if they went on with it."
"Next?" The word faltered in my throat.