"Jack Vance - The Sorcerer Pharesm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

and looking into the till, found a number of coins which he transferred to his pouch, alongside the ivory
representation of NULLITY. He returned outdoors: best to depart while none was on hand to detain
him. A flicker of light attracted his attention: the ring on his finger glinted with dozens of streaming sparks,
and all pointed up the trail, towards the cliffs.
Cugel shook his head wearily, checked the darting lights once again. Without ambiguity they
directed him back the way he had come. Pharesm's calculations, after all, had been accurate. He had
best act with decision, lest TOTALITY once more drift beyond his reach.
He delayed only long enough to find an axe, and hastened up the trail, following the glittering sparks
of the ring.
Not far from where he had left it, he came upon the maimed Winged Being, now sitting on a rock
beside the road, the hood drawn over its head. Cugel picked up a stone, heaved it at the creature, which
collapsed into sudden dust, leaving only a tumble of white cloth to signal the fact of its existence.
Cugel continued up the road, keeping to such cover as offered itself, but to no avail. Overhead
hovered Winged Beings, flapping and swooping. Cugel made play with the axe, striking at the wings, and
the creatures flew high, circling above.
Cugel consulted the ring and was led on up the trail, with the Winged Beings hovering just above.
The ring coruscated with the intensity of its message: there was TOTALITY, resting blandly on a rock!
Cugel restrained the cry of exultation which rose in his throat. He brought forth the ivory symbol of
NULLITY, ran forward and applied it to the gelatinous central globe.
As Pharesm had asserted, adherence was instant. With the contact Cugel could feel the spell which
bound him to the olden time dissolving.
A swoop, a buffet of great wings! Cugel was knocked to the ground. White cloth enveloped him,
and with one hand holding NULLITY he was unable to swing his axe. This was now wrenched from his
grasp. He released NULLITY, gripped a rock, kicked, somehow freed himself, and sprang for his axe.
The Winged Being seized NULLITY and with TOTALITY attached, bore it aloft towards a cave high in
the cliffs.
Great forces were pulling at Cugel, whirling in all directions at once. There was a roaring in his ears,
a flutter of violet lights, and Cugel fell a million years into the future.
He recovered consciousness in the blue-tiled room with the sting of an aromatic liquor at his lips.
Pharesm, bending over him, patted his face, poured more of the liquor into his mouth. "Awake! Where is
TOTALITY! How are you returned?"
Cugel pushed him aside, and sat up on the couch.
"TOTALITY!" roared Pharesm. "Where is it? Where is my talisman?"
"I will explain," said Cugal in a thick voice. "I had it in my grasp, and it was wrenched away by
winged creatures in the service of Great God Yelisea."
 "Tell me, tell me!"
Cugel recounted the circumstances which had led first to gaining and then losing that which Pharesm
sought. As he talked, Pharesm's face became damp with grief and his shoulders sagged. At last he
marched Cugel outside, into the dim red light of late afternoon. Together they scrutinized the cliffs which
now towered desolate and lifeless above them. "To which cave did the creature fly?" asked Pharesm.
"Point it out, if you are able!"
Cugel pointed. "There, or so it would seem. All was confusion, all a tumble of wingsтАж"
"Remain here." Pharesm went inside the workroom and presently returned. "I give you light," and he
handed Cugel a cold white flame tied into a silver chain. "Prepare yourself."
At Cugel's feet he cast a pellet which broke into a vortex, and Cugel was carried dizzily aloft to that
crumbling ledge which he had indicated to Pharesm. Nearby was the dark opening into a cave. Cugel
turned the flame within. He saw a dusty passage, three strides wide and higher than he could reach. It led
back into the cliff, twisting slightly to the side. It seemed barren of all life.
Holding the lamp before him, Cugel slowly moved along the passage, heart thumping for dread of
something he could not define. He stopped short: music? The memory of music? He listened and could