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

"No more!" A hoarse crow's croaking shattered the music of the Elf-Lord's voice, and a gaunt scarecrow drove elves aside like a whirlwind. "I'll bear no more! I demand justice from the Lords of Rath Tintallain!"
. Ingulf the Wanderer stood glaring before the double throne, his face twisted with passion. Men, elves and dwarves gaped at him: the eldritch music stopped.
"Madman!" Carroll Mac Lir's voice rang with disgust. "Ingulf, come to yourself, now!" Istvan heard men mutter all around him, and the gangling figure seemed very alone. "Mad as a hare," Carroll said. "Who but Crazy Ingulf would dare rage so?"
Istvan stepped to Ingulfs side.
"I dare," he said, his calm voice ringing clear. "I, Istvan DiVega of Carcosa, and mad or sane, I demand an accounting for spells placed on us, in the name of my noble kin, the Hasturs of Carcosa."
A startled look shot from under Ingulfs tousled red hair. Tahion stepped to Ingulfs side, followed by Arthfayel and Karik Mac Ulatoc.
"Indeed, Ardcrillon Mac loldan," said Tahion, "I myself accuse your spells! You bewitch when there is no need."
"Never have I felt such strong spells, or so many," said Arthfayel.
"Already on this journey I have had to treat one man for elf-shock," said Tahion. "Do they not face dangers enough, without elf-magic to drive them from their wits? Surely you mean no harm, and I know this last spell was but to keep us from losing our wayЧbut of the next spell, and the next? SurelyЧ"
"Why?" Ingulf shrieked. "Why would you do this to us?" I feel your illusions, thick all around us, blinding us! Why?"
"To protect you against that which we guard!" answered
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the Elf-Lord. "You fear we will drive them mad? Very well, then! Reach out, mortal wizard, stretch out your nerves, as I lay down this magic that you fear. Feel what we strive to shield you from!"
Glory faded and was gone. Colours dimmed: music stilled.
Under Istvan's feet, stone still shuddered with the clamour of hammers on the anvils of the dwarves, but now its rhythm was no longer woven with the song of birds into strange elven music. Birdsong was once more only birdsong. The air smelled only of the scent of flowers, and the light about them was only sunlight, no more. The twin suns climbed toward noon, and Istvan felt the weariness of the long ride suddenly in every bone.
Above them, red-capped towers rose like white trees.
Arthfayel's face twisted, and he gasped. Tahion shuddered. And even Istvan could feel something, a faint gnawing of unease at the ends of his nerves.
But he had felt far worse before, across the sea, standing guard on the Dark Border of the Shadowed Mountains, on the continent.
It did not seem enough. He tried to remember his boyhood training in Carcosa, and reached out. There was evil, right enoughЧand still, blended with it, a singing in the veins . . .
Sunlit evil, a canker in a rose, cold in the heart of a flame, striving, aching . . .
"Will they not go mad, having to live with thatT' the Elf-Lord cried.
"Elves might go mad, maybe," said Tahion. "Men will not."
The Dwarf-Lord, his kingly presence no longer drowned in the other's power, stirred on his throne, and spoke.
"I have told you before, Ardcrillon, that my people never shudder and suffer as you elves do. That is why the Hasturs left us to watch this thing. It seems that men, too, can bear it."
"Men can bear it better than they may our magic," said Ethellin the Wise.
"But we may go mad," said another of the elves.
"And it will grow worse as the Night-Things gather about us," the Elf-Lord said.
Suddenly the hammers underground were stilled: the silence was as sharp as a shout. Elf-lord and Dwarf-Lord
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stiffened on their thrones. Istvan felt tension rippling through the crowding elves.
Tahion, too, must have sensed it, but he gave no sign.
"You must protect yourselves, indeed," he said, carefully. "But men do not feel what you feel, and do not suffer as you suffer. There is no need for you to wrap illusionЧ''
He stopped as a running dwarf pushed through the crowd, and bowed, gasping, before the Dwarf-Lord's throne.
"Goblins are tunneling in the West Maze!" the messenger panted. "Already they have broken into the Chamber of Garnet, and can be heard through the walls of the Old Coal Mine. We have sealed the tunnel to the Chamber of Garnet, and warriors stand watch in the mines. The forges are stilled that we may better listen to their digging. Command us, LordЧis it your will that we seal off the mines as well? OrЧ"
"No!" The Lord of the Dwarves leaped down from his throne, and stood firm as stone on his short legs. "No! They must pay for entry: let them learn the cost! My axe!" From behind the throne ran one bearing a great, double-bitted dwarf-axe nearly as tall as himself. "Arm yourselves. People of the Rock! When they break through, they shall find us waiting!"
"And our swords, also," said Carroll Mac Lir. "Command us!"
The Dwarf-Lord stared up, and burst into deep, booming laughter. "Nay," he gasped between chuckles, red-cheeked with mirth above his bristling beard. "Nay, my large friend. You are too tall for the tunnels where we must fight! We thank you, but for now you will serve us better resting from your journey: you are weary with long riding, and need sleep and food. There will be fighting enough for all when night comes, doubt not! Cruadorn!" The dwarf who had led them here sprang forth, bowing. "Lead our allies to the chambers prepared for them." Turning back to the heroes, he bowed gravely. "Rest well, my friends, and sleep if you can, for night will bring the worst danger. Sleep well!"
His broad hand closed on the haft of his axe, and he strode off proudly in the midst of his folk.
The Lord of the Elves of Rath Tintallain rose from his throne.
"Sad indeed it is, that you should have cause to complain
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of your welcome here," he said, "and most bitterly I regret troubling you. Yet, surely you know that no harm was meant! Rest then, mortal men, and sleep until the night. But you, my kinsmen, come swiftly with me now!"
In a blur of light and laughter, the elven-folk were gone; behind the two thrones the great door opened and closed, and men were blinking at empty thrones on empty steps, and the blank white-crystal wail looming beyond.
CHAPTER SIX
The Mystery of the Hyades
They stared at the shut door. Above, they saw two towers branch like crystal tree trunks, and a third beyond them.
Glancing over his shoulder, Istvan saw that they were alone now, neither elf nor dwarf in sight, but for Cruadorn.
"Come!" said the dwarf. "I will take you to the others."
"Others?" Ingulf asked.
"The other heroes, of course!" Laughing, the dwarf strode away on sturdy short legs down a path of crushed shale that ran between rosebushes. Turning to follow, Istvan glimpsed between trees a low wall that ran out from the ends of the fortress wall, and beyond it a dizzying blur of distant treetops.