"Patricia C. Wrede - Caught in Crystal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wrede Patricia C)

PROLOGUE
After the Wars of Binding ended, the Four Races of
LyraтАФthe catlike, furred Wyrds, the shimmering, sea-dwelling
Neira, the proud, pale Shee and the quarrelsome, energetic
humansтАФwent their separate ways. For a long time, they were
concerned primarily with survival, for the War had
permanently altered the face of Lyra. The center of the main
continent sank, creating an inland sea; the coastline moved
miles inland in other areas; mountains rose and fell; the island
of the Kulseth seafarers sank, taking with it one of the
Talismans of Noron'ri and leaving an entire nation homeless.

The climate, too, had altered. Ice crept down from the
north, threatening to destroy what little the wars with the
Shadow-born had left untouched. Only the sorcery of the
wizards of the isle of Varna kept the cold confined to the
northern lands.
 Slowly, civilizations began to emerge from the rubble.
Rathane expanded south in search of more temperate weather,
sowing the seeds of an empire that eventually encompassed
most of the lands west of the new inland sea. The eastern
countries recovered more slowly. It was not until 577 A.W.B.
(After the Wars of Binding) that Kith Alunel signed the first
of the trading treaties which eventually grew into the Estarren
Alliance.

The people left homeless by the sinking of the central part
of the continent were less fortunate. A few found homes on
the islands of the newly created Melyranne Sea, while others
merged with the peoples already living on either side. Most,
however, remained in the north. As the climate cooled and the
land became less hospitable, these folk took up a nomadic life.
They called themselves the Thar, and they supplemented their
hunting with occasional raids on the northernmost towns and
villages of the more settled lands.

All four races mingled at least occasionally throughout the
sprawling trading empire, and relations among them were
generally cordial.

By 950 A.W.B. the northern ice was beginning its retreat,
and the Varnan wizards could spare the time to look at the
societies developing around them. They suffered a rude shock.
The Estarren Alliance, with Kith Alunel at its center, had
grown to dominate the East.

The Varnans saw the Estarren Alliance as a threat to their
own position. In 1003 A.W.B. they invaded the mainland on the
flimsiest of pretexts, intending to teach the upstarts their
place. But the Varnans were badly outnumbered, despite their