"Raymond E. Feist - Serpentwar 3 - Rage of a Demon King2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

BOOK III
The Mad God's Tale


We are the music makers,
We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;World-
losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
We are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.


Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
Ode, st. 1


PROLOGUE


Breakthrough


The wall shimmered.
In what had once been the throne room of Jarwa, last
Sha-shahan of the Seven Nations of the Saaur, the thirty-foot-
high wall of stones opposite the empty seat of power
seemed to waver, then vanish as a black void appeared.
Nightmare creatures gathered. things of terrible fangs and
~nous claws. Some wore the faces of dead animals,
while others were humanlike in aspect. Some bore proud
wings, antlers, or bull's horns. All were beings of massive
muscle and evil intent, dark magic and murderous, nature.
Yet all in the hall remained motionless, terrified of that
which was appearing on the other side of the newly created
gateway. Demons who stood as tall as trees crouched low
eying not to be seen.
Immense energy was required to open a gate, and for
years the demons had been thwarted by the accursed
priests of the distant city of Ahsart. Only when the mad
High Priest unsealed the portal admitting the first demon
to deny his city to the conquering host of the Saaur, was
the barrier breached.
Now the world of Shila lay in tatters, the remaining life
reduced to lowly creatures at the sea bottom, lichen clinging
to rocks in crevices upon distant mountain peaks, and
tiny creatures that scuttled under rocks to avoid detection.
Anything larger than the smallest insect had been
devoured. Hunger now gripped the demon host, and again