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

"Next to disappear. Next to vanish. Next to be gone, as too many of our colleagues and allies now
are gone."
"I might have stopped it," I cried. "Himaggery told me he needed me, but I wouldn't listen.
He shook me, took me by my shoulders and shook me as though I had been seven or eight years
old. "This is no time for dramatics, my boy, or flights of guilt. Be still. Let me think."
So I was still, but it was a guilty stillness. If I had been there? If I had been willing to take up the
Gamesmen of Barish and use them, use the Talents? Would Himaggery and Windlow still be there? I
wanted to cry, but Mertyn's grip on my shoulder did not loosen, so I stood silent and blamed myself for
whatever it was that had happened.

The Skip-rope Chant

Mind's mistress, moon's wheel, cobweb Didir, shadow-steel.
Mighty wing, lord of sky, lofty Tamor. hover high.
Night-dark. dust-old, bony Dorn, grave-cold.
Flesh-queen, love-star, lust-pale, Trandilar.
Pain's maid, broken leaf, Dealpas, heart's grief.
Cheer's face, trust's clasp, far and strong is Wafnors grasp.
Far-eyed Sorah, worshipper, many gods who never were.
Here and gone, flashing fast. Hat├▒or is Trusted last.
Chilly Shattnir, power's store, calling Game forevermore.
Fire and smoke, horn and bell. messages of Buinel.
 Shifted, fetched, sent-far, trickiest is Thandbar.

When all time is past, eleven first, eleven last.

The Gamesunen of Barish, their Talents.

Grandmother Didir, First Demon. Talent, Telepathy.
Grandfather Tamor, First Armiger. Talent, Levitation.
Dorn, First Necromancer. Talent, Raising of Ghosts.
Trandilar, First Ruler. Talent, Beguilement.
Dealpas, First Healer. Talent, Healing.
Wafnor, First Tragamor. Talent, Telekinesis.
Sorah. First Seer. Talent, Clairvoyance.
Hafnor, First Elator. Talent, Teleportation.
Shattnir, First Sorcerer. Talent, Power storage.
Buinel, First Sentinel. Talent, Fire starting.
Thandbar, First Shifter. Talent, Shapeshafting.

The eleven represent the pantheon of elders, the "respected ones" of the religion of Gameworld.
NOTE: There are short verses for every Gamesman in some issues of the Index of Gamesmen,
over four thousand different titles. In some areas, skip-rope competitions are held during which young
men and women attempt the recitation of the entire Index. The last person to complete this task
successfully was Minery Mindcaster, in her eighteenth year, at the competition in Hilbervale.


2 тАУ A City Which Fears the Unborn
At the end of the short time which followed, it was Mertyn who left me, not I who left him. I had
never seen him in this kind of flurry, this Kingly bustle with all the House at his command and no nonsense