"Brian Thomsen - The Nobles 04 - The Mage in the Iron Mask" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thomsen Brian M)

"Thank you for saving me the trouble."
This was followed by one last shriek of pain, and one last whispered order.
"Take half of the company back to the Retreat, and kill everyone. No one must escape,
and be sure to leave this behind."
Had the young wizard not been blinded by the sack that encompassed his head, he
would have undoubt-edly noticed the speaker (obviously the group's leader) handing his
lieutenant a blood-stained crystal wand which Rassendyll, had he been conscious at the
time, would have recognized as the weapon that had been used to kill the traitor Donal. As it
was he saw nothing, and, petrified with fear after hearing the plans for slaughter, tried to
maintain his wits in hopes that an opportunity for escape might present itself.
A thundering herd of hooves galloped off into the distance and before he knew it,
Rassendyll was once again tossed around as the party he was now an un-willing member of
raced onward into the night.
*****
Rassendyll lost all track of time as the riders raced the dawn to their destination. As the
stallions slowed down to a trot, the young wizard thought he could distinguish from the
cacophony of sounds that included the clopping of the horses' hooves and the verbal spurs
of the riders, a change in the ground upon which they rode, the sound of a gate being raised,
and a cock crowing in the distance. As the gate closed behind them, he felt the horse that
bore him stop, and felt an eeriness at the peaceful silence that pervaded the early morn.
The stillness of the air gave way to the distinct odors of industry, smoke, sulfur, and fish.
They must have brought me to some city, the young wizard discerned, but where?
Mulmaster? Hillsfar? If only I knew how long I had been unconscious.
A few footsteps and the sound of a blade being withdrawn from a scabbard struck terror
into his heart.
Why did they take me all this way just to kill me? he thought, trying to make sense of his
situation. Surely if they had intended on killing me they would have done so before now.
Concentrating deeply, as the magisters had shown him, he sought out with his mind the
source of the sounds. In his mind's eye he saw a one-eyed soldier with long black hair
standing right next to him, sword raised as if to strike. Fear took control of the young wizard,
and as his mind's eye blinked, he felt himself try to scream, forgetting the restraining bit that
was still safely lodged in his mouth.
He felt the breeze of a slash pass by his head, a moment of instability as if he had lost his
balance, and then the rude concussion of meeting the cobble-stoned ground.
"Pick him up," he heard. "It wouldn't make much sense to have carried him all this way
just to let him be trampled in the courtyard by the horse that bore him."
This was accompanied by a malevolent chorus of laughter, as rough hands wrangled him
to his feet.
"I think he's awake," one voice said.
"Not for long," another replied.
Rassendyll tried to brace himself for the antici-pated blow, felt a sharp pain to the back of
his head the likes of which he never felt before, and was con-sumed by the darkness that
had already blinded his other senses.
*****
A bucket of water to the face did the double duty of reviving him and drawing his attention
to the fact that the sack had been removed from over his head. His entire body ached, his
arms long wrenched from their sockets by the constraints of the silken bonds. He tried to
move and stretch his cramped muscles, but found his freedom impaired by what seemed to
be a massive wooden yoke and frame that anchored his limbs in a semi-sitting position that
provided him with no room to relieve or relax his protesting limbs and also restrained his