"Douglass, Sara - Wayfarer Redemption 2 - Pilgrim" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

"She wins," Herme replied, "for how can we," his hand indicated his two companions, "allow such a beautiful woman to lose?"
Leagh grinned. "My 'beauty' has nothing to do with the
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fact, my good Earl Herme, that I am far more skilled than you."
All the men laughed, and threw their gaming sticks into the centre of the circle scratched into the dirt before them.
Zared touched Leagh's cheek softly, then looked to Dare Wing. "My friend, I wonder if I might ask something of you?"
The Strike Leader inclined his head. "Speak." "Faraday told us that there were certain times of the day when it would be dangerous to go outside, times when the Demons would spread their evil. Dare Wing, I need to know when exactly these times are."
"Dawn, dusk, mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and night," Theod said. "This we know."
"Yes, but we need to know more specifically. If we know exactly when it is safe for us to roam abroad, then we will have a better idea of how to counter these Demons ... or at least, when we can try to do so. Besides, somehow we will have to rebuild life around," he paused, his mouth working as if he chewed something distasteful, "our new-found restrictions. We need to know when it is safe to live."
Dare Wing nodded. "I agree ... but how?" "Can you station members of your Strike Force, perhaps twenty at any one time, along the south-west borders of the Silent Woman Woods? They will be safe enough if they remain among the trees, and perhaps they can observe ... observe the behaviour of those still trapped in the open."
Dare Wing nodded, agreeing with the location. The southwest border of the Woods would be close to Tare, an area more highly populated than the northern or southern borders of the Woods. If they needed to observe, that would give them their best possible chance.
"The more we learn," he said, "the more hope we have." "You do not want any of our men stationed there?" Herme asked quietly.
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"My friend," Zared said. "I ask only the Icarii because they can move between the border and back to our placement faster than can human or horse legs." He stood up. "I profess myself sick at not knowing how to react, or what to do next. Until Faraday returns we must do what we can."
DareWing rose to his feet, nodded at Zared, and faded into the gloom of the forest.
Fifteen paces away Askam sat with his back against a small sapling, his eyes narrow and unreadable as he watched Zared move to talk quietly with Caelum.
His mouth thinned as he saw Caelum nod at Zared's words and place a hand briefly on the King's shoulder.
After three days of observation, they had a better idea of the span of the Demonic Hours. From dusk to the time when the sun was well above the horizon was a time of horror, the time when first Raspu, then Rox and finally Mot ruled the land. Pestilence, terror and hunger roamed, and those few who were caught outside succumbed to the infection of whichever Demon had caught them. After the dawn hour there were three hours of peace, a time of recovery, before Barzula, tempest, struck at mid-morning.
Although the occasional storm rolled across the landscape during Barzula's time — whirlwinds of ice or of fire — the scouts reported that the primary influence of the tempest appeared to occur within the minds of those caught outside. Once Barzula's hour had passed and he had fed, there was again a time of peace (or, rather, a time of frightful anticipation) for some four hours until Sheol struck at mid-afternoon. Again, an interval of three hours when it was safe to venture outside, then the long hours of pestilence and terror through dusk and night.
The precise time span of the Demonic Hours were marked by a thin grey haze that slid over the land from a point to the east, probably the location of the Demons themselves. It was a sickening miasma that carried the demonic contagion with
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it, lying over the land in a drifting curtain of madness until it dissipated at the end of the appointed time.
"And those caught outside?" Zared asked softly of the first group of scouts to report back.
"Some die," one of the scouts said, "but most live, although their horror is dreadful to watch." "Live?"
The scout took a moment to answer. "They live," he finally said, "but in a state of madness. Sometimes they eat dirt, or chew on their own excrement. I have seen some try to couple with boulders, and others stuff pebbles into every orifice they can find until their bodies burst. But many who live past their first infection — and those dangerous few hours post-infection when they might kill themselves in their madness — wander westwards, sometimes north-west."
The scout paused again, locking eyes with his fellows. Then he turned back to Zared and Caelum. "It is as if they have been infused with a purpose."
At that Zared had shuddered. A purpose? To what end? What were the Demons planning?
But the scouts had yet more to report. One group had also seen seven black shapes running eastwards across the Plains of Tare towards the Ancient Barrows. Horses they thought, but were not sure. Above them had flown a great dark cloud . . . that whispered.
No-one knew quite what to make of it. "We have roughly three hours after dawn, four hours between mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and then another three hours before dusk," Zared said to Caelum and Askam on the third morning since they had taken shelter in the Woods.
"Time enough for an army to scamper from shelter to shelter?" Caelum said, his frustration clearly showing in his voice. "And what can an army do? Challenge Despair to one-on-one combat? Demand that Pestilence meet us on the battlefield, weapons of his choosing? What am / supposed to do?"
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"Be patient, Caelum," Zared said. "We must wait for Faraday and —"
"I am sick of waiting for this fairy woman!" Askam said. "We must move, and move now. I suggest that —"
"Faraday?" put in a voice to one side of the clearing. "Faraday?"
They all spun around.
Axis and Azhure stepped out from the gloom of a tree. Just behind them StarDrifter leaned against the trunk of the tree, his wings and arms folded, his face devoid of any expression.
And, yet further behind him, pale shapes moved in and out of sight. Massive hounds — Azhure's Alaunt. Most settled down out of sight, but one, Sicarius, their leader, walked forward to sit by Azhure's side. Her hand touched the top of his head briefly, as if for reassurance.
"Father!" Caelum hugged his parents tightly, relieved beyond measure that they'd arrived. All three had to blink tears from their eyes. They were alive, and for the moment they were safe, and that meant there was still some hope left. There must be.
Caelum nodded at StarDrifter, who raised a tired hand in greeting, then returned his attention to his parents. "You were in the Star Gate Chamber? What happened? Did you see the Demons step through? And Drago? What of him?"
"Caelum, enough questions!" Axis said, but his tone was warm, and it took the sting out of his words. "Give me a moment to catch my breath and I will answer them."
He swept his eyes about the clearing, taking in Zared, Askam and Dare Wing. Together? This group that had only days previously been committed to civil war? For the first time in days Axis felt a glimmer of true optimism. He looked Zared in the eye, remembering the last time they'd met — the heated words, the hatred — but now all he saw was the son of Rivkah and Magariz, his brother, and a man he would have to relearn to trust.
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Caelum had obviously done it, and so could he — and Axis knew it would not be hard. This brother was one that, despite all the arguments and differences, he knew he could lean on when they faced a common enemy.
"We left the Chamber before the Demons broke through," Axis said. "We didn't see them — or Drago — although I imagine he came through with his demonic companions in treachery."
Axis paused, and his voice and eyes hardened. "I hope he is satisfied with what he has accomplished. His revenge was harder than I ever imagined it could have been."
"None of us know what was in Drago's heart or mind when he fled Sigholt," Zared said. Like Axis, all Zared's ill-feeling for his brother had vanished. Their personal problems and ambitions were petty in the face of the disaster that had enveloped them. "And we do not know if he was the instigator or just another victim of this disaster. Perhaps we should not judge him too harshly until we have heard what he has to say."
Axis' face hardened, and Zared decided to leave the subject of Drago well enough alone for the time being. "Axis," he said, and stepped closer to him. He hesitated, then took one of Axis' hands between his. "How are you? And Azhure?"
In truth, Zared did not have to ask, for both Axis and Azhure, and StarDrifter who still lingered in the shadows, looked as did every Icarii Enchanter Zared had seen in the past few days. They looked .. . ordinary.