"Jack Vance - Elder Isles 02 - The Green Pearl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

Desperate at last, Tamurello invoked a spell of ennui upon Desmei: an influence so quiet, gradual and
unobtrusive that she never noticed its coming. She grew weary of the world, its sordid vanities, futile
ambitions and pointless pleasures, but so strong was her disposition that she never thought to suspect a
change in herself. From Tamurello's point of view, the spell was a success.
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For a period Desmei moved in gloomy contemplation through the windy halls of her palace on the beach
near Ys, then at last decided to abandon the world to its own melancholy devices. She made herself
ready for death, and from her terrace watched the sun set for the last time.



At midnight she sent a bubble of significance over the mountains to Faroli, but when dawn arrived, no
message had returned.



Desmei pondered a long hour, and at last thought to wonder at the dejection which had brought her to
such straits.



Her decision was irrevocable. In her final hour, however, she bestirred herself to work a set of
wonderful formulations, the like of which had never been known before.



The motives for these final acts were then and thereafter beyond calculation, for her thinking had become
vague and eerie. She surely felt betrayal and rancor, and no doubt a measure of spite, and seemed also
urged by forces of sheer creativity. In any event she produced a pair of superlative objects, which
perhaps she hoped might be accepted as the projection of her own ideal self, and that the beauty of these
objects and their symbolism might be impinged upon Tamurello.



In the light of further circumstances* her success in this regard was flawed, and the triumph, if the word
could so be used, went rather to Tamurello.



*The details are chronicled in LYONESSE 1: Suldrun's Garden.



In achieving her aims, Desmei used a variety of stuff: salt from the sea, soil from the summit of Mount
Khambaste in Ethiopia, exudations and pastes, as well as elements of her personal substance. So she
created a pair of wonderful beings: exemplars of all the graces and beauties. The woman was Melancthe;