"John C. Wright - Orphans of Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wright John C)

ORPHANS of
CHAOS
John C. Wright
TOR
fantasy
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK NOTE: If you purchased this book
without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was
reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author
nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this
novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
ORPHANS OF CHAOS
Copyright ┬й 2005 by John C. Wright
Excerpt from Fugitives of Chaos copyright ┬й 2006 by John C. Wright
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions
thereof, in any form.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor.com
Tor┬о is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN-13:978-0-765-34995-8 ISBN-10:0-765-34995-7
First Edition: November 2005
First Mass Market Edition: November 2006
Printed in the United States of America
0987654321 To the memory of Harry Golding, a man of sterling moral character,
generous wit and charm, endless patience, and titanic intellect; this tutor of
St. John's College in Annapolis had many students who admired him with a
profound love, of whom this author's is not the least.
Let it be not imagined by any reader that the rather sinister educational
institution depicted in this fantasy is meant to resemble the author's alma
mater, for the spirit of St. John's is one in bitter enmity to tyranny; the
task of St. John's is to make free men out of youths by means of books and
balanced judgment: Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque. ORPHANS of CHAOS
I
The Boundaries
1.
The estate grounds were, at once, our home, our academy, and our prison. We
were outnumbered by campus staff, and by the imposing old Georgian and
Edwardian edifices. There were more mares in the stables than there were
students in the classrooms. It was only the five of us.
The estate was bound to the North by the Barrows, to the West by the sea
cliff, to the East by the low, gray hills of the Downs. What bound us to the
South is a matter of dispute.
2.
Colin claimed the forest was the only boundary to the South. His story was
that the wood had no further side, but extended forever, with the trees
growing ever taller, the shade ever darker, and beasts within it ever more
dangerous, huge, and savage. He said that beyond the world's end the trees