"Karl Edward Wagner - Kane 06 - The Book Of Kane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wagner Karl Edward)

the stones. The one who usually tended only to injury to livestock had been called to helpтАФthe baronтАЩs
physician and astrologer could not be found, assuming he would have bothered. The horse surgeon knew
it was hopeless of course, but for appearances he made a few half-hearted attempts to forestall imminent
death.

The servant uttered one great, wet cough that merged with a final spasm. The horse surgeon considered
the limp wrist, critically pried up one eyelid, and shrugged. тАЬWell, heтАЩs dead,тАЭ he proclaimed needlessly.
There was disappointment among the watchers, who had hoped to learn from the victim of his assailantтАЩs
nature. Over them lay a clammy atmosphere of gnawing fear, and several argued louder than necessary,
asserting that a wolf, or several wolves, possibly a snow cat had been the killer. Some had darker
suspicions as well, for this frozenlandofMarsarovjhad its legends.

A sudden hideous movement halted their slow withdrawal! The corpse had lurched upward from the
slippery stones! Supporting itself with its arms, it sat half-upright and glared at them with wide and
sightless eyes. Red slobbering lips fought to form words.

тАЬDeath!I see him! Out of the storm he comes for us all!тАЭ blubbered that thing which should not speak.
тАЬDeath comes! A man! A man not man!Death for all!тАЭ

The corpse toppled hollowly back upon the stones, now silent.

тАЬHe must not have been quite dead,тАЭ offered the surgeon finally, but not even he believed that.




I. The Rider in the Storm



Kane at last was forced to admit to himself that he was totally lost, that for the past hour he had been
without any sense of direction whatsoever. He kicked his plodding horse onward, cursing the fate that
had set him abroad in this frozen wasteland during what seemed to be the worst blizzard in his long
memory. The shaggy steed was close to floundering with exhaustion, for even its rugged north-bred
endurance had been overtaxed by the days of flight which had left them lost in this fantastic ice storm.

Two impressions filled KaneтАЩs weary mind. One was a sensation of unbearable, soul crushing
coldтАФcold accumulated during the days of travel through the wintered land and now multiplied by this
needled wind of ice. The chill sought for him through the thick folds of heavy fur that surrounded him, and
Kane knew that when he stopped moving, he would quickly freeze to death.

The second impression was one of awful necessity to outdistance his pursuers. They had dogged his trail
relentlessly for the long, cold days, penetrating every trick this master of deception had employed to hide
the signs of his progress. But then with the last powers of the priests of Sataki, his pursuers had little
chance of missing a trail that no human eye could discover.

SincenoonKane had often been able to catch sight of them, so close had they gained on him. Knowing
that they would almost inevitably overtake him by nightfall, he had welcomed the sudden blizzard when it
had come. Although he doubted if even this could cover his tracks from the ken of those grim hunters, he
hoped to gain invaluable timeтАФpossibly to recover his lead over them. But the storm had become a