"Zimmer,.Paul.Edwin.-.A.Gathering.of.HerosUC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zimmer Paul Edwin)

There was a sudden shimmer in the starlight above them, and a swallow swooped into their path, a swallow that seemed woven of moonlight and starbeams. Istvan blinked at it. Could it be a real bird?
A GATHERING OF HEROES 47
And Tuarim Mac Elathan was staring up at it, open-mouthed, with wonder in his eyesЧ
"Liogar!" he breathed. "Liogar? Z'jar?"
It perched on a high branch that hung in the starlight, and looked at them from glittering eyes. Its beak opened, and from it came a sweet, melodic trilling of shimmering, liquid songЧwhich shaped itself into unmistakable words; though whether they formed in the ears or in the mind alone, Istvan could not tell.
"Greetings, Son of Elathan, and greetings ye lords of the Sea-Elves. Greetings, elves and men."
"Greetings, Liogar," said Ethellin the Wise. "So the Hyadean Gate is open."
"The Gate is open, and they at Carcosa told us there was need.''
Some vague memory of childhood tales that he had long disregarded and forgotten were stirring in the back of Istvan's mind. Liogar . . .
"It has been a hundred years and more since your star last shone through the Gateway," said Tuarim.
"Not so long on our side," said the trilling voice. A second swallow appeared, and swooped down to sit beside the first.
The whole company had stopped to stare at the swallows while they talked, but now there came a faint muttering from the rear that Istvan could not catch, but the elves laughed.
"That is so," said Tuarim Mac Elathan, and'his horse began to move.
The swallows left the branch and whirled through the air about him, circling his head, while the Sea-Elves walked beside him, their horses following silently.
Istvan followed the elves, his mind still struggling with elusive memories. Suddenly Tahion's voice burst out from beside him.
"The demon is following us! keep close, and walk warily! Do not stray away from your companions!" He held up the Sword of Kings, its blade now blazing brilliant blue.
"Can you help us against the demon?" asked Ethellin the Wise, and the swallow's sweet, trilling voice answered.
"Not so long as it remains under the treesЧnot without setting this whole forest ablaze. If it comes into starlight, we will do what we can.''
48 Paul Edwin Zimmer
Suddenly, the swallows were gone. Istvan stared at the spaces they had filled, but even as his mind groped for some explanation, Tahion's voice rang out again.
"Listen to the trees!" The elves ahead stopped and turned, and Istvan saw their eyes phosphorescent in the dimness.
"More demons are coming!" cried Tahion. "There are two more ahead of us, coming this way! Common forest demons, 1 think. It has summoned them! A third is coming on our right. Hear the Rooted People shrieking as it rushes by! They mean to surround us!"
Istvan looked down at the flaming blade of his sword, and looked away again, half-blinded. All about him blades were blazing, burning with need-fire.
The company shrank together, surrounded by the light of meir own swords.
In the shadows to the right, a deeper blackness moved. A thin shrilling, utterly unlike the voice of any natural beast, sent shivers down Istvan's spine: his nose filled with a revolting, unnatural smell.
Any mortal horse would have gone mad with terror by now, but the elf-horses were uncannily still.
And through the strip of clear sky above the trail, two silver swallows swooped.
Ahead of them, fleshless blackness came screaming through the trees, and from off to the left came a sound like muffled thunder. The blue gleam of Tahion's blade turned blinding white, and the mingled light of swords drove through the tangled net of branches to strike and stop on writhing walls of oily blackness.
Demons hesitated before the blaze of so much need-fire. But from the left came a single croaking sound, and from out of the trees oozed a wall of liquid blackness. Flaming swords rose to meet it...
Istvan saw the writhing darkness at his right in front of the trees, and lunged. Cold chilled his hand as the Hastur-blade drove into the transparent darkness . . .
A shrill scream, and the darkness was gone.
Tendrils of blackness leaped from the left, darting toward the men behind the flaming blades. There was a sharp tinkling sound, like glass breaking, and one of the glowing swords was suddenly dimmed.
The swallows vanished from the sky above. A beam of
A GATHERING OF HEROES 49
light stabbed down, piercing the darkness from which the tendrils came.
The earth shook under them. Sudden wind nearly swept them from their feet. A crackling roar was swallowed by the wind.
Demon voices rose in agonized wailing that faded in the distance and was gone.
Where the blackness had lain, a huge hole gaped in the forest floor.
Above it, the silver swallows soared, jubilant, triumphant!
Dair Mac Eykin stood staring at the hilt of his broken Hastur-blade. About a foot of faintly gleaming metal jutted from his hand. On the ground at his feet lay blackened splinters. Istvan squeezed the hilt of his own blade protectively.
Dair raised a face white with shock under the copper wires of his beard. "I guarded it away," he said. "The blackness faded like a cloud, but . . ."He dropped his eyes to the hilt in his hand.
Dorialith of the Sea-Elves was beside him, and put his arm around his shoulders. "Bring the pieces, lad, and the smiths of Rath Tintallain shall reforge the sword stronger than it was before."
He turned to the others. "A strong demon, indeed! I think it would have shattered any single blade hereЧor even four or five at onceЧand it was wise enough to fear to attack us all. We are fortunate that the Birds of Morvinion were here to aid us, and banish the creature for us. We owe you thanks, Z'jar and Liogar!"
The silver swallows dived out of 'he starlight, and their trilling voices answered him. "This is the task for which we came to your Universe. But if you would have our company on the road before you, mount and ride, for dawn shall soon turn from under us this side of the world, and bear us to other lands. Yet we shall see you when night comes again."
The elf-horse laid its head on Istvan's shoulder. Istvan blinked and then turned and mounted. Had there been some signal from the elves he had not caught? Or did his horse understand speech? Or was it, indeed, that the speech of the birds was spoken to the mind and not the ears, so that horses could understand it as well as men?
All around him men were mountingЧthe elves had all
SO Paul Edwin Zimmer
leaped into their saddles as Istvan had turned. Istvan sheathed his sword, his head spinning with questions.
"We owe thanks, also, to Istvan the Archer!" Carroll Mac Lir's voice boomed out. Istvan winced at the name, as always.
Then the horses were moving again, and the wind in,his ears shut out Carroll's voice as the big man went on, explaining what Istvan had done. Trees and bushes rushed by with a blur, but the white swallows hung in the air, effortlessly keeping pace. When tree branches hung shadows across the path, the swallows bobbed up in a little flash of silver light, to skim above the branches and then dart down again. Istvan wondered that any bird could keep pace with them at this speedЧand then remembered that Z'jar and Liogar were not really birds.