"Jack Vance - Elder Isles 3 - Madouc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

North and South Ulfiand, only to be de feated by Aillas, the gallant young King of Troicinet, who
there upon became King of both North and South Ulfiand, to the grievous distress of Casmir, King
of Lyonesse.

Less than a dozen magicians remained extant throughout the Elder Isles. Some of these were
Baibalides of Lamneth Isle; Noumique; Myolander; Triptomologius the Necromancer; Condoit of Conde;
Severin Starfinder; Tif of the Troagh; and a few more, including some who were little more than
apprentices, or tyros. A goodly number of others had recently passed from existence тАФ a fact
suggesting that magic might be a dangerous profession. The witch Desmei for reasons unknown had
dissolved herself during the creation of Faude Carfilhiot and Melancthe. Tamurello also had acted
imprudently; now, in the semblance of a weasel skeleton he hung constricted within a small glass
globe in MurgenтАЩs Great Hall at Swer Smod. The weasel skeleton crouched in a tight curl, skull
thrust forward between the crotch formed by the upraised haunches, with two small black eyes
glaring from the glass, conveying an almost palpable will to work evil upon anyone who chanced to
glance at the bottle.


II

The most remote province of Dahaut was the March, governed by Claractus, Duke of the March and Fer
Aquila тАФ a title somewhat hollow, since the old Duchy of Fer Aquila had long been occupied by the
Celts for their kingdom Godelia.
The March was a poor land, sparsely populated, with a single market town, Blantize. A few peasants
tilled barley and herded sheep; in a few tumbled old castles a ragtag gentry lived in little
better case than the peasants, consoled only by their honour and devotion to the doctrines of
chivalry. They ate more gruel than meat; draughts blew through their halls, flickering the flames
in the wall sconces; at night ghosts walked the corridors, mourning old tragedies.

At the far west of the March was a wasteland supporting little but thorn, thistle, brown sedge and
a few spinneys of stunted black cypress. The wasteland, which was known as the Plain of Shadows,
met the outlying fringes of the great forest in the south, skirted the Squigh Mires in the north
and to the west abutted the Long Dann, a scarp generally three hundred feet high and fifty miles
long, with the upland moors of North Ulfiand beyond. The single route from the plain below to the
moors above led through a cleft in the Long Dann. During ancient times a fortress had been built
into the cleft, closing the gap with stone blocks, so that the fortress effectively became part of
the cliff. A sally port opened upon the plain, and high above a line of parapets fronted a
terrace, or walkway. The Danaans had named the fortress тАШPo├лlitetz the InvulnerableтАЩ; it had never
been taken by frontal assault. King Aillas of Troicinet had attacked from the rear, and so had
dislodged the Ska from what had been their deepest salient into Hybras.

Aillas with his son Dhrun now stood on the parapets, looking out over the Plain of Shadows. The
time was close upon noon;
the sky was clear and blue; today the plain showed none of the fleeting cloud shadows which had
prompted its name. Standing together, Aillas and Dhrun seemed much alike. Both were slender,
square-shouldered, strong and quick by the action of sinew rather than massive muscle. Both stood
at middle stature; both showed clear clean features, gray eyes and light brown hair. Dhrun was
easier and more casual than Aillas, showing in his style the faintest hint of carefully restrained
flamboyance, along with an indefinable light-hearted elegance: qualities which gave charm and
color to his personality.