"Zimmer,.Paul.Edwin.-.Ingulf.The.MadUC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zimmer Paul Edwin)

His feet pounded hard stone. He heard shouts behind, but he cared not. He ran and ran, but ever the lonely slender figure before him drew away from him, growing smaller and still smaller, running, down to the edge of the sea.
She cast off her velvet gown. He saw the waves rise to greet her white body. His feet scuffed through sand as he ran toward the black night sea, calling her name.
A long dark shape like a sea) darted away through the waves.
Starlight and moonlight above him, and the sea running up the beach to meet him with glass-dark waves. Water reared up and caught him in a cold embrace. He mounted the wave and swam.
Dimly he heard splashes in the water behind him. Out and away from the shore he drove, trying to shout her name, spitting out the salt water that leaped eagerly into his throat. He saw seals near him in the water, their bright eyes gleaming.
His limbs were heavy and weak, as though he had not eaten for a long time. He swam on, seeking for her, but his bones grew heavier and heavier, dragging him down. He felt himself sinking, and was glad.
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A dark shape came up against him, and strong teeth fastened in his robe. He was being towed through the water. He did not want to live in a world where she did not love him! He started to struggle, but he was too weak for that. Water dashed into his throat and choked him. . . .
Then he was lying on sand, and coughing up water. Cold air seared his lungs. He rolled over, and saw the silver-bearded Elf between himself and the stars.
"Airellen!" he gasped, when he could speak again. "Where is she?"
"She will be swimming as a seal among the islands of the North," said Dorialith, "hunting among the salmon herds; trying to forget her sorrows in the salt tides of the wild ocean. It is a road that my people take when trouble is on them."
Ingulf stared. "Then I will stay here until she comes back," he said. But the Sea-Elf shook his head sadly.
"She will not come back while you are here," he said. "And she can stay in the sea longer than you will be alive. But aside from that, I cannot allow you to stay. It is a dangerous place for a Mortal Man. You have fared better than the last mortal who came among us, two thousand years and more ago.
"We welcomed him happily, meaning no evil, and I played music for him, that he might dance, and forget the sorrows of mortal life. He danced until he died."
Ingulf pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. Endlessly the breakers rolled upon the shore, smashed into spray, and fell purring back from the land. In the east he saw a pale glow, where tiny moons hung golden in the light of suns yet sunken.
For the first time in a month Ingulf was looking at the golden moons of dawn, but he did not know how long a night was behind him.
"But what shall I do?" he cried. "Must I seek her among the seals in the skerries of the North? I have no powers for such a quest! But my life is worth nothing to me, if she is gone out of it! What can I do?"
"Hope!" said Dorialith. "You cannot seek her. But in time her panic will leave her, and perhaps she will come to seek you."
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Ingulf gaped at him, and the elf smiled, lifting something from the sand that gleamed with white light: the starlight flame of the sword from the Land of the Ever-Living. He pressed the hilt into Ingulfs lax hand.
"Take it," Dorialith said, "and go. Be bold and strong. Let your deeds become the seeds of song, and in time she will hear of them. I will see to that!" The Twin Suns rose, and in their light the froth that tipped the waves glowed like fresh milk.
And so it was that Ingulf of the Isles left the City of the Sea-Elves, gaunt and haggard, with nothing to show for his journey except the magical sword that he named Frostfire. Bright in his hands it shone, as he leftЧaloneЧthe sands where the Sea-Elves' city stands.
The Loon's Cry
AIRELLEN RODE A wave to a rock that jutted stark and wet from the froth-creamy sea, and, casting off the seal-shape that was upon her, rested naked on sun-warmed stone.
Wind and storm had tired her: she was weary of the lonely waste of waves, and beginning to hate the taste of fish.
She saw another head bobbing in the water, and tensed, wondering who it was that found her; torn between the desire to flee, and the desire to hear a voiceЧany voice.
A white seal came riding on a wave-crest and slid smoothly onto dark rock. Wide elf eyes looked out from the white-furred face.
Then the seal-skin fell away, and a woman was there, her smooth skin lily-white against the black rock, her hair as snowy as Airellen's was lustrous dark brown.
In a jewel at her throat burned a spark of wandering fire.
"Cousin!" the newcomer cried. "I did not look to meet you wandering these waters! Is it not said that your father's ship has sailed from the Land of the Ever-Living, and will enter this world soon? I had thought to see you at the city!"
The smile on Airellen's face shrank and vanished. Red blood flooded her skin. Her eyes sought the pitted rock. Her fists
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clenched; then, quickly, she pressed her palms together, and her long fingers twined and knotted.
"Why, CousinЧwhat is this?" The white-haired girl's laugh was silvery and cruel. "What secret have I touched? Come! You can tell me! Is it your father you are hiding from? Or a lover . . .? "She laughed again, as Airellen flinched, blushing even deeper. "Indeed!" she crowed. "Have I hit on it, then? But whoЧ?"
"Swanwhite! Leave me be!" Airellen cried. "Don'tЧ don'tЧdig so! Leave me alone!"
"If you'll not tell me," Swanwhite laughed, "then you leave me no choice but to find out for myself! Let me see, now. ..." She glanced quickly around the rock. "Ah!"
A swift, fluid motion, and she was leaning over a small hollow, where calm water reflected the sky. She bent, pink nipples brushing the rock, and breathed on the tiny pool.
"No!" Airellen cried, but Swanwhite only laughed.
Water misted, rippled, cleared, and then they both saw, there in the water, the big-boned scarecrow shape; the angular, long-nosed face under the red hair. . . .
"A Mortal Man!" Swanwhite breathed, startled.
Airellen gave a little shuddering gasp.
"Ingulf!" Her fists knotted: tears ran down her blushing cheeks.
A woman's scream sounded, somewhere in the endless woodlands.
Ingulf stopped, his eyes hunting through thick brambles, seeking between the pillars of countless trees. Somewhere above the leaves, he knew, the Twin Suns shone, but he could not see far in this green dimness.
Haunted, hopeless, homeless, Ingulf wandered aimlessly, helpless in these thick forests, so different from his native islands. Thorns had torn and shredded his tartan robe: his mind, too, was in tatters. It was a hateful world that he lived in now. Birds were nesting, hatching their eggs, feeding their mates, and surely it was all to mock him, to remind him that he was alone. . . .
Long months had passed since Ingulf, guided by helpful
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