"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Deathgate Cycle 7 - The Seventh Gate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

Deathgate Cycle
Volume 7

THE SEVENTH GATE

MARGARET WEIS AND TRACY
HICKMAN

CHAPTER 1

ABRI THE LABYRINTH

VASU STOOD ON THE WALL ABOVE THE GATES OF THE CITY OF Abri, stood silent and
thoughtful as the gates boomed shut beneath his feet. It was dawn, which meant, in the Labyrinth,
nothing more than a graying of night's black. But this dawn was different than most. It was more
glorious than most . . . and more terrifying. It was brightened by hope, darkened by fear.

It was a dawn which saw the city of Abri, in the very center of the Labyrinth, still standing,
victorious, after a terrible battle with its most implacable enemies.

It was a dawn smudged with the smoke of funeral pyres; a dawn in which the living could draw a
tremulous breath and dare to hope life might be better.

It was a dawn lit by a lurid red glow on the far distant horizon, a red glow that was brightening,
strengthening. Those Patryns who guarded the city walls turned their eyes to that strange and
unnatural glow, shook their heads, spoke of it in low and ominous tones.

"It bodes nothing good," they said grimly.

Who could blame them for their dark outlook? Not Vasu. Certainly not Vasu, who knew what was
transpiring. He would have to tell them soon, destroy the joy of this dawning.

"That glow is the fire of battle," he would have to say to his people. "A battle raging for control of
the Final Gate. The dragon-snakes who attacked us were not defeated, as you thought. Yes, we
killed four of them. But for every four that die, eight are born. Now they are attacking the Final
Gate, seeking to shut it, seeking to trap us all in this dread prison.

"Our brothers, those who live in the Nexus and those near the Final Gate, are fighting this evilтАФso
we have reason to believe. But they are few in number and the evil is vast and powerful.
"We are too far away to come to their aid. Too far. By the time we reached themтАФif we ever did
reach them, aliveтАФit would be too late. It may already be too late.

"And when the Final Gate is shut, the evil in the Labyrinth will grow strong. Our fear and our
hatred will grow stronger to match and the evil will feed off that fear and that hatred and grow
stronger still."

It is hopeless, Vasu told himself, and so he must tell the people. Logic, reason said to him it was
hopeless. Yet why, standing on the wall, staring at that red glow in the sky, did he feel hopeful?

It made no sense. He sighed and shook his head.