"Karl Edward Wagner - Sing a Last Song of Valdese" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wagner Karl Edward)

to vanish through a chink in the wall.
"Well done, Ranvyas!" Claesna gasped shakily. "You've slain his familiar, and
the spell is shattered!"
He sneered at the wizard. "Unless, of course, you've another 'damned soul who
cannot die' who can complete your incantation."
Korjonos's bowed shoulders signalled his defeat.
"Let's get out of here!" blubbered Jarcos. His brother was weeping mindlessly.
"Not until we slay the wizard," growled Ranvyas.
"And set me free," Hef advised. "I don't think you'll want me to tell them in
Rader about my five old comrades."
"Thoem! It's cold!" chattered Passlo. "And what's wrong with the light in
here?"
The priest broke into their circle and bent over the pile of seared clothing.
They thought he meant to retrieve the enchanted dagger, but when he
straightened he held the stillborn child in his left hand.
His cowl fell back. They saw his red hair.
They saw his eyes.
"Kane!" screamed Claesna.
Korjonos shouted out syllables that formed another name.
Hands went for futile swordhilts, but already the room was heavy with the
sweet dust stench of ancient decay.
At the doorway behind them the bolt snapped with rust; boards rotted and
sagged, crumbled into powdery dissolution. They stared in dread understanding.
On the threshold stood a tall figure in a tattered cloak of grey.
Kane turned his face.
And the Grey Lord lifted his mask.


Kane shook the darkness from his mind. He started to come to his feet, then
almost fell because he already stood.
He was standing in the gutted interior of a log building. The floor overhead
had collapsed, as had the roof, and he could see stars in the night sky. Small
trees snagged up through the rotting debris. The inn had been abandoned for
many years.
The air was musty with decay. He stumbled for the doorway, thought he heard
the snap of dry bones beneath his boots. Outside he breathed raggedly and
glanced again at the sky.
The mist crawled in wild patterns across the stars. And Kane saw a wraithlike
figure of grey, his cloak flapping in the night winds. Behind him seemed to
follow seven more wraiths, dragging their feet as if they would not follow.
Then another phantom. A girl in a long dress, racing after. She caught the
seventh follower by the hand. Strained, then drew him away. The Grey Lord and
those who must follow vanished into the night skies. The girl and her lover
fell back in an embrace--then melted as one into the mist.
Kane's horse was waiting outside the ruined inn. Kane was not surprised, for
he had recognized the girl in the mist. His heels touched the horse's flanks,
and Kane vanished into the mist as well.