"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Dragons of Spring Dawning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

be close. Our life has been so hard...
"I suppose you're right, Berem. I've seen no sign... Wait, brother... Look
ahead. What's that?"
I see a bright and shining glitter, a myriad of colors dancing in the
sunlight-as if all the jewels on Krynn were heaped together in a basket.
Her eyes widen. "Perhaps it's the gates of the rainbow!"

Ha! Stupid girlish notion. I laugh, but I find myself running forward. It is
hard to catch up with her. Though I am bigger and stronger, she is fleet as a
deer.
We come to a clearing in the forest. If lightning did strike this forest, this
must have been where the bolt hit. The land around is scorched and blasted.
There was a building here once, I notice. Ruined, broken columns jut up from
the blackened ground like broken bones sticking through decaying flesh. An
oppressive feeling hangs over the place. Nothing grows here, nor has anything
grown here for many springs. I want to leave, but I cannot...
Before me is the most beautiful, wonderful sight I have ever seen in my life,
or in my dreams... A piece of a stone column, encrusted with jewels! I know
nothing about gemstones, but I can tell these are valuable beyond belief! My
body begins to shake. Hurrying forward, I kneel down beside the fire-blasted
stone and brush away the dirt and filth.
She kneels beside me.
"Berem! How wonderful! Did you ever see anything like it? Such beautiful
jewels in such a horrible place." She looks around and I feel her shivering.
"I wonder what this used to be? There's such a solemn feeling about it, a holy
feeling. But an evil feeling, too. It must have been a temple before the
Cataclysm. A temple to the evil gods . . . Berem! What are you doing?"
I have taken out my hunting knife and I begin to chip away the stone around
one of the jewels-a radiant green gemstone. It is as big as my fist and
sparkles more brilliantly than the sun shining on green leaves. The rock
around it comes away easily beneath my knife blade.
"Stop it, Berem! "Her voice is shrill. "It-it's desecration! This place is
sacred to some god! I know it!"
I can feel the gemstone's cold crystal, yet it burns with an inner green fire!
I ignore her protests.
"Bah! You said before it was the rainbow's gates! You're right! We've found
our fortune, as the old story says. If this place was sacred to the gods, they
must have abandoned it years ago. Look round, it's nothing but rubble! If they
wanted it, they should have taken care of it. The gods won't mind if I take a
few of these jewels...
"Berem!"
An edge of fear in her voice! She's really frightened! Foolish girl. She's
beginning to irritate me. The gemstone is almost free. I can wiggle it.
"Look, at it, Jas!" I am shaking with excitement. I can barely talk. "We've
nothing to live on, now- what with the fire and the hard winter. These jewels
will bring money enough in the market at Cargath for us to move away from this
wretched place. We'll go to a city, maybe Palanthas! You know you've wanted to
see the wonders there...
"No! Berem, I forbid it! You are committing sacrilege!"
Her voice is stern. I have never seen her like this! For a moment I hesitate.