"Роджер Желязны. Lord of Light (Лорд Света, engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

look so shocked at my saying it. Archivist! You know that he stole the
fabric of his doctrine, path and attainment, the whole robe, from
prehistorical forbidden sources. It was a weapon, nothing more. His greatest
strength was his insincerity. If we could have him back . . ."
"Lady, saint or charlatan, he is returned."
"Do not jest with me, Tak."
"Goddess and Lady, I just left the Lord Yama shutting down the
pray-machine, frowning his frown of success."
"The venture was against such mighty odds. . . . Lord Agni once said
that no such thing could ever be done."
Tak stood.
"Goddess Ratri," he said, "who, be he god or man, or anything between,
knows more of such matters than Yama?"
"I have no answer for that question, Tak, because there is none. But
how can you say of a certainty that he has netted us our fish?"
"Because he is Yama."
"Then take my arm, Tak. Escort me again, as once you did. Let us view
the sleeping Boddhisatva."
He led her out the door, down the stairs, and into the chambers below.

Light, born not of torches but of the generators of Yama, filled the
cavern. The bed, set upon a platform, was closed about on three sides by
screens. Most of the machinery was also masked by screens and hangings. The
saffron-robed monks who were in attendance moved silently about the great
chamber. Yama, master artificer, stood at the bedside.
As they approached, several of the well-disciplined, imperturbable
monks uttered brief exclamations. Tak then turned to the woman at his side
and drew back a pace, his breath catching in his throat.
She was no longer the dumpy little matron with whom he had spoken. Once
again did he stand at the side of Night Immortal, of whom it has been
written, "The goddess has filled wide space, to its depths and its heights.
Her radiance drives out the dark."
He looked but a moment and covered his eyes. She still had this trace
of her distant Aspect about her.
"Goddess. . ." he began.
"To the sleeper," she stated. "He stirs."
They advanced to the bedstead.
Thereafter to be portrayed in murals at the ends of countless
corridors, carved upon the walls of Temples and painted onto the ceilings of
numerous palaces, came the awakening of he who was variously known as
Mahasamatman, Kalkin, Manjusri, Siddhartha, Tathagatha, Binder, Maitreya,
the Enlightened One, Buddha and Sam. At his left was the goddess of Night;
to his right stood Death; Tak, the ape, was crouched at the foot of the bed,
eternal comment upon the coexistence of the animal and the divine.
He wore an ordinary, darkish body of medium height and age; his
features were regular and undistinguished; when his eyes opened, they were
dark.
"Hail, Lord of Light!" It was Ratri who spoke these words.
The eyes blinked. They did not focus. Nowhere in the chamber was there
any movement.