"David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

followed the twisting passage that led down and down through glittering
black rock to the vast chamber far beneath the mountain that was
Dahlaine’s home.
Zelana paused at the mouth of the passage. Her burly, grey-bearded
brother, stripped to the waist, was standing over a ruddy fire beating on
something that glowed and made a sort of ringing sound. A small,
glowing orb hovered just over him, bathing him with light.
‘What in the world are you doing, Dahlaine?’ Zelana asked curiously.
Dahlaine turned sharply to look at his sister. ‘Why, Zelana!’ he
exclaimed. ‘You startled me. Is something wrong?’
‘Perhaps - or perhaps not. Are you taking up music now? If you are,
you’re a little off-key.’
‘Just experimenting, dear sister,’ he replied. ‘Some of the people
beyond Mother Sea have discovered something they call “metal.” I
wanted to see if I could duplicate it. Is something afoot?’
Zelana looked cautiously around Dahlaine’s cave. ‘Where’s your
Dreamer?’ she asked.
‘Ashad? He’s out playing with the bears.’
‘Bears? Surely you don’t allow him to play with bears! They’ll eat
him, won’t they?’
‘Of course they won’t, Zelana. They’re his friends - in the same way
the pink dolphins are Eleria’s friends. Is something unusual happening?’
‘Perhaps. Eleria had a dream last night, and I think it may have been
significant. I thought you should know about it. There’s something else
that may be even more significant than the dream itself.’
‘Oh?’
‘It appears that Mother Sea’s taking a hand in this herself.’
Dahlaine stared at her.
‘Eleria was out playing with the young pink dolphins yesterday, and
they introduced her to an old cow whale.’
‘I didn’t know that whales and dolphins spoke the same language,’
Dahlaine said.
‘They don’t. That’s what leads me to believe that it wasn’t really a
whale. Anyway, the old cow led Eleria to a small islet off the south coast
of Thurn and showed her an oyster shell that was about fifty times bigger
than any oyster I’ve ever seen. Then the whale touched the shell with one
of her fins, and the oyster opened as if someone had just knocked on its
door. There was a pearl inside - pink, and a bit larger than an apple.’
‘That’s impossible!’ Dahlaine exclaimed.
‘You’ll have to take that up with the oyster, Dahlaine. Then the whale
told Eleria that the oyster wanted her to have the pearl, so Eleria took it,
and the whale gave her a ride back to Thurn.’
‘Now that’s something I’d like to see,’ Dahlaine said, laughing. ‘It
might be a bit difficult to saddle a whale.’
‘Did you want to hear the rest of this, or did you want to make funny
remarks?’ Zelana said tartly.
‘Sorry, dear sister. Please go on.’
‘Eleria’d had a busy day, so she was very tired. She went to sleep
almost immediately, and then some very strange things started to happen.
That pink pearl rose up into the air above Eleria, and it started to glow -