"Anthony Piers - Incarnations Of Immortality 1 - On A Pale Horse [uc]" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

Then he was silent, for already the ring was turning.
The bright red deepened to dark red, and then to opaque.

Zane's mind began to numb around the edges. Death—
he had a deep guilt there. He looked at his left arm, feeling
a spot of blood burning into the skin. He pictured the face
of his mother as she died. How could he ever exonerate
that memory?

"Death—within hours, suddenly!" the proprietor said,
aghast. "The stone is absolutely black! I've never seen it
turn so fast!"

Zane shook off his private specter. No, he could not
afford to believe in this! "If I am to die within hours, I'll
have no need of this stone."

"Buy you do need it, sir!" the proprietor insisted. "With
the Deathstone you can change your fate. Hold it and
decide on a new course, and if the color returns, you
know it's right. You can save your life! But you have to
have this fine magical ruby to guide you. To steer you
away from death. Otherwise you will surely perish before
the day is out. That warning is emphatic!"

Zane hesitated. The Deathstone was an impressive item
now. It had, as it were, not minced words. But he had
been thinking about death while holding the stone, and
that could have made the color turn. Emotion-indicator
spells were simple and cheap, hardly deserving the name
of magic. There could be many things like that to give
false readings. Still—

"How much?" he asked.

"How much is life worth?" the proprietor asked in
return, with a certain predatory gleam in his eyes.

"About two cents, if this stone is right," Zane said
grimly. Yet his heart was beating with nervous power.

"Two cents—per minute," the proprietor said, going
into the closing spiel. "But this phenomenal and beautiful




4 On APaU Horse

stone is available presently at a discount of fifty percent.