"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Legends 03 - Test Of The Twins" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

oblivious to the pain of his injured leg, he staggered down a wide, clear area, free of tree stumps-
the road leading past the Inn, Tas's mind registered, though he didn't think it clearly. Getting to his
feet again, the kender hurried after Caramon, but the big man was making rapid headway,
staggering through the mud, his fear and hope giving him strength.
Tas soon lost sight of him amid the blackened stumps, but he could hear his voice, still calling
Tika's name. Now Tas knew where the big man was headed. His footsteps slowed. His head ached
with the heat and the foul smells of the place, his heart ached with what he had just seen. Dragging
his heavy, mud-caked shoes, fearful of what he would find ahead, the kender stumbled on.
Sure enough, there was Caramon, standing in a barren space next to another vallenwood stump. In
his hand, he held something, staring at it with the look of one who is, at last, defeated.
Mud-covered, bedraggled, heartsick, the kender went to stand before him. "What?" he asked
through trembling lips, pointing to the object in the big mans hand.
"A hammer," Caramon said in a choked voice. "My hammer."
Tas looked at it. It was a hammer, all right. Or at least appeared to have been one. The wooden
handle had been burned about three-fourths of the way off. All that was left was a charred bit of
wood and the metal head, blackened with flame.
"How-how can you be sure?" he faltered, still fighting, still refusing to believe.
"I'm sure," Caramon said bitterly. "Look at this." The handle wiggled, the head wobbled when he
touched it. "I made it when I was-was still drinking." He wiped his eyes with his hand. "It isn't
made very well. The head used to come off about half the time. But then"-he choked-"I never did
much work with it anyway."
Weakened from the running, Caramon's injured leg suddenly gave out. This time, he didn't even try
to catch himself, but just slumped down into the mud. Sitting in the clear patch of ground that had
once been his home, he clutched the hammer in his hand and began to cry.
Tas turned his head away. The big man's grief was sacred, too private a thing for even his eyes.
Ignoring his own tears, which were trickling past his nose, Tas stared around bleakly. He had never
felt so helpless, so lost and alone. What had happened? What had gone wrong? Surely there must
be a clue, an answer.
"I-I'm going to look around," he mumbled to Caramon, who didn't hear him.
With a sigh, Tas trudged off. He knew where he was now, of course. He could refuse to admit it no
longer. Caramon's house had been located near the center of town, close to the Inn. Tas continued
walking along what had once been a street running between rows of houses. Even though there was
nothing left now-not the houses, not the street, not the vallenwoods that held the houses-he knew
exactly where he was. He wished he didn't. Here and there he saw branches poking up out of the
mud, and he shivered. For there was nothing else. Nothing except ...
"Caramon!" Tas called, thankful to have something to investigate and to, hopefully, take Caramon's
mind off his sorrow. "Caramon, I think you should come see this!"
But the big man continued to ignore him, so Tas went off to examine the object by himself.
Standing at the very end of the street, in what had once been a small park, was a stone obelisk. Tas
remembered the park, but he didn't remember the obelisk. It hadn't been there the last time he'd
been in Solace, he realized, examining it.
Tall, crudely carved, it had, nevertheless, survived the ravages of fire and wind and storm. Its
surface was blackened and charred but, Tas saw as he neared it, there were letters carved into it,
letters that, once he had cleaned away the muck, he thought he could read.
Tas brushed away the soot and muddy film covering the stone, stared at it for a long moment, then
called out softly, "Caramon."
The odd note in the kender's voice penetrated Caramon's haze of grief. He lifted his head. Seeing
the strange obelisk and seeing Tas's unusually serious face, the big man painfully heaved himself
up and limped toward it.
"What is it?" he asked.