"Alexander Kazantsev. The Destruction of Faena (ГИБЕЛЬ ФАЭНЫ, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

The Blood Door opened once again. Mother Lua, as usual, was waiting for
Ave and Kutsi in the half-ruined portico. The three of them went into the
ancient monastery garden, lit now by the faint light of Lua. The dangling
lianas didn't look like snakes any more, they suggested the cords of costly
curtains screening off the garden. The trees resembled colonnaded galleries.
There was a fragrance of rotting leaves and something strange and
gentle-perhaps the flowers that Yar Jupi used to grow with such passion.
Mada was waiting for her beloved and rushed to meet him as soon as he
walked through the Blood Door.
"Has he agreed?"
"Urn Sat has so far created reactions of disintegration, but now (may
Kutsi Merc be forgiven for this!) he will have to accomplish the opposite,"
joked the hunchback, and he grinned, but quickly changed the grin into an
ingratiating smile.
It had grown dark in the garden. The silver light had faded. Lightning
began flashing beyond the outer wall, casting dense black shadows onto the
shrubbery. One of the trees seemed to leap out of the darkness and blaze up,
its white bark shining.
A bellowing noise came from somewhere far away. It was as if an
enormous, lumbering machine had gone out of control and had finally plunged
down into an abyss, deafening and blinding all like a disintegration blast.
Mada huddled closer to Ave.
It was now totally dark; the avenue colonnades and the tree with the
white bark had disappeared.
"What a thunderstorm!" whispered Mada ecstatically.
"We'll be soaked as we go round the Dread Wall to the Temple of
Eternity," observed the hunchback.
"Should we put it off till tomorrow, perhaps?" asked Ave cautiously.
"Never!" exclaimed Mada. "Are we going to be stopped by the thunder of
heaven? As for the rain wetting our clothes, my nanny can take care of
them."
"Of our clothes?" inquired Kutsi Merc. He held out his hand and felt
the first raindrops fall on to his palm. "Yes, she'll have to take care of
them."
"I can do without that care," grumbled Mother Lua. "I'd do better to
take you there under cover."
"What d'you mean?" asked Kutsi Merc, suddenly on the alert.
"It's all quite simple," explained Mada. "An old underground passage
leads from here to the Temple of Eternity. The priests used it once, but now
we're going to walk along it. Nanny knows everything and will open the doors
as we come to them."
"Does the passage run from the garden?" inquired Kutsi.
"Yes, we can go into it not far from here. Nanny will show us."
The rain began, a downpour from the start. They all ran, stumbling over
the tree roots. Lua went in front, with Kutsi, Mada and Ave following on
behind.
"This way! It's no darker here than outside. The old passage isn't much
to look at. I'm sorry to say," said Mother Lua as she led them further.