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

And once Dhrall lay securely in its grasp, it could reach forth and claim other lands as well, and all in good
time would it come to possess the world. And all creatures great and small would bow down before it, and it
would assume its rightful place as ruler of all the world, and its reign would last forever and ever, and all
power would lie in its hands.

And the spirit of the Vlagh rejoiced.



Now Mother Sea and Father Earth paid scant heed to the antics of any gods of any lands, and neither did
they sleep, for to them fell the task of maintaining the life of the creatures of earth and sea, and woe to him,
human or divine, who threatens the perpetuation of life. For gentle though they may appear, Mother Sea and
Father Earth have disasters beyond imagining at their disposal, should such appear necessary for the
continuation of life.

Now it came to pass long ago in the Domain of the North that a half-mad hermit had a vision of that
which would one day become reality, and in that vision he saw sleeping children whose dreams could thwart
the designs of That-Called-the-Vlagh, for the dreams could command, and Mother Sea and Father Earth
could not disobey the commands of the Dreamers.

And most men of the Land of Dhrall scoffed at the vision of the hermit, for his madness was clearly
evident. But the Gods of East and West, North and South, scoffed not, for the hermit’s vision resounded
deep within their souls, and they knew it to be true. And troubled were the true gods of the Land of Dhrall,
for they knew in their hearts that the arrival of the Dreamers would change all the world, and nothing
thereafter would ever be the same again.

And the eons, as eons must, plodded on toward an uncertain future, and the younger gods grew older,
and the cycle of their ascendency neared its conclusion.

And it is here that our story begins.
 THE ISLE OF THURN




1



Zelana of the West had grown weary of the brutish man-creatures of
her Domain. She found them repulsive, and their endless complaints and
demands irritated her beyond measure. They seemed to believe that she
lived only to serve them, and that offended her.
And so it was that she turned her back on them and sojourned for
several eons on the Isle of Thurn, which lies off the coast of her Domain.
And there she communed with Mother Sea and entertained herself by
composing music and creating poetry.
Now the waters around the Isle of Thurn are the home of a rare breed
of pink dolphins, and Zelana found them to be playful and intelligent, and
in time she came to look upon them not as pets, but rather as dear