"Tad Williams - Memory Sorrow & Thorn 2 - Stone of Farewell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Tad)

Stormspike Mountain, pale relatives of the banished Sithi.
It was the terrible magic of the gray sword Sorrow that caused InelukiтАЩs death тАУ that,
and mankindтАЩs attack on the Sithi. The League of the Scroll believes that Sorrow has been
given to Elias as the first step in some incomprehensible plan of revenge, a plan that will
bring the earth beneath the heel of the undead Storm King. The only hope comes from a
prophetic poem that seems to suggest that тАЬthree swordsтАЭ might help turn back InelukiтАЩs
powerful magic.
One of the swords is the Storm KingтАЩs Sorrow, already in the hands of their enemy,
King Elias. Another is the Rimmersgard blade Minneyar, which was also once at the
Hayholt, but whose whereabouts are now unknown. The third is Thorn, black sword of
King JohnтАЩs greatest knight, Sir Camaris. Jarnauga and others think they have traced it to a
location in the frozen north. On this slim hope, Josua sends Binabik, Simon, and several
soldiers off in search of Thorn, even as Naglimund prepares for siege.
Others are affected by the growing crisis. Princess Miriamele, frustrated by her uncle
JosuaтАЩs attempts to protect her, escapes Naglimund in disguise, accompanied by the
mysterious monk Cadrach. She hopes to make her way to southern Nabban and plead with
her relatives there to aid Josua. Old Duke Isgrimnur, at JosuaтАЩs urging, disguises his own
very recognizable features and follows after to rescue her. Tiamak, a swamp-dwelling
Wrannaman scholar, receives a strange message from his old mentor Morgenes that tells of
bad times coming and hints that Tiamak has a part to play. Maegwin, daughter of the king
of Hernystir, watches helplessly as her own family and country are drawn into a whirlpool
of war by the treachery of High King Elias.
Simon and Binabik and their company are ambushed by Ingen Jegger, huntsman of
Stormspike, and his servants. They are saved only by the reappearance of the Sitha Jiriki,
whom Simon had saved from the cotsmanтАЩs trap. When he learns of their quest, Jiriki
decides to accompany them to Urmsheim mountain, legendary abode of one of the great
dragons, in search of Thorn.
By the time Simon and the others reach the mountain. King Elias has brought his
besieging army to JosuaтАЩs castle at Naglimund, and though the first attacks are repulsed,
the defenders suffer great losses. At last EliasтАЩ forces seem to retreat and give up the siege,
but before the strongholdтАЩs inhabitants can celebrate, a weird storm appears on the northern
horizon, bearing down on Naglimund. The storm is the cloak under which InelukiтАЩs own
horrifying army of Norns and giants travels, and when the Red Hand, the Storm KingтАЩs
chief servants, throw down NaglimundтАЩs gates, a terrible slaughter begins. Josua and a few
others manage to flee the ruin of the castle. Before escaping into the great forest, Prince
Josua curses Elias for his conscienceless bargain with the Storm King and swears that he
will take their fatherтАЩs crown back.
Simon and his companions climb Urmsheim, coming through great dangers to
discover the Uduntree, a titanic frozen waterfall. There they find Thorn in a tomblike cave.
Before they can take the sword and make their escape, Ingen Jegger appears once more and
attacks with his troop of soldiers. The battle awakens Igjarjuk, the white dragon, who has
been slumbering for years beneath the ice. Many on both sides are killed. Simon alone is
left standing, trapped on the edge of a cliff; as the iceworm bears down upon him, he lifts
Thorn and swings it. The dragonтАЩs scalding black blood spurts over him as he is struck
senseless.
Simon awakens in a cave on the troll mountain of Yiqanuc. Jiriki and Haestan, an
Erkynlandish soldier, nurse him to health. Thorn has been rescued from Urmsheim, but
Binabik is being held prisoner by his own people, along with Sludig the Rimmersman,
under sentence of death. Simon himself has been scarred by the dragonтАЩs blood and a wide
swath of his hair has turned white. Jiriki names him тАЬSnowlockтАЭ and tells Simon that, for