"Dragonlance - Deathgate 6 - Into The Labyrinth - uc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragonlance)

". . . blood."

Xar's hands shook with excitement. He forgot about the Sartan, about the prophecy, about the necromancy. This—this was worth it all!

"You know where the gate is? You will take me there?" Xar rose eagerly to his feet.

"I know. The dead know. And I would be only too happy to take you, Lord of the Nexus . . ." Kleitus's face

10 WEIS AND HICKMAN

writhed, the soul flitting restlessly in and out of the corpse, The hands flexed. "// you met that requirement. Your death could be arranged . . ."

Xar was in no mood for humor. "Don't be ridiculous. Take me there now. Or, if that is not possible"—the thought came to the lord that perhaps this Seventh Gate was on another world—"tell me where to find it."

Kleitus appeared to consider the matter, then shook his head. "I don't believe I will." "... I will."

"Why not?" Xar was angry. "Call it ... loyalty."

"This—from a man who slaughtered his own people!" Xar sneered. "Then why tell me about the Seventh Gate, if you refuse to take me to it?" He had a sudden thought. "You want something in exchange. What?"

"To kill. And keep on killing. To be rid of the smell of warm blood that torments me every moment that I live . . . and I will live forever! Death is what I want. As to the Seventh Gate, you don't need me to show you. Your minion has been there already. I should think he would have

told you."

". , . death . . . you . . ."

"What minion? Who?" Xar was confounded a moment, then asked, "Haplo?"

"That could be the name." Kleitus was losing interest.

". . . name."

"Haplo knows the location of the Seventh Gate!" Xar scoffed. "Impossible. He never mentioned it . . ."

"He doesn't know," Kleitus responded. "No one living knows. But his corpse would know. It would want to return to that place. Raise up this Haplo's corpse, Lord of the ' Nexus, and he will lead you to the Seventh Gate."

"I wish I knew your game," Xar said to himself, pretending once more to peruse the child's book, covertly observing the lazar. "I wish I knew what you were after! What is the Seventh Gate to you! And why do you want Haplo? Yes, I see where you're leading me. But so long as it's the same direction I'm traveling . . ."

Xar shrugged and lifted the book, read aloud.

" 'And all was accomplished through the Seventh Gate.' How? What does that mean, Dynast? Or does it

INTO THE LABYRINTH

11

mean anything? It is hard to tell; you Sartan derive so much pleasure out of playing with words."

"I would guess it means a great deal, Lord of the Nexus." A flicker of dark amusement brought real life to the dead eyes. "What that meaning is, I neither know nor care."