"02 - Black Wizards - Douglas Niles" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moonshae)

you last year.” The assassin punctuated his statement
with a low, inhuman growl.
“I do not expect such sloppiness, for the coin I am
paying,” said the great wizard quietly. “Even your
mother, the orc, could have done better.”
The insult was too much. A dagger flashed from the
assassin’s sleeve. Faster than the eye could follow, it
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she served a goddess who was foreign—and thus,
hateful—to Bhaal.
And so Bhaal’s need for vengeance evolved and
grew into something far more terrible than any plot
for murder. The prince was a leader of his land, and
the druid was a caretaker of that land. It seemed fitting
to Bhaal that not only the mortals, but their
land itself, should die.
The god had a powerful tool for wreaking this
vengeance. Bhaal’s minion, Kazgoroth, though slain,
was not entirely gone. One fragment of the Beast—
its heart—remained, clutched desperately by one of
its former servants. Bhaal took careful note of the
Heart of Kazgoroth. He would have a use for it soon.
Yes, he decided. The land of these mortals would
become a land of death—a nation ruled by the dead,
over the dead. No living thing would mar it.
Thus was dealt the vengeance of Bhaal.
* * * * *
“Enter.”
The assassin looked around sharply but could not
see the source of the hissing voice. Nevertheless, the
stone wall before him slipped open, revealing a corridor
even blacker than the surrounding night.
Muttering a curse, the assassin entered and disappeared
into inky darkness. In his silk shirt and
trousers he slipped along without a whisper, his soft
leather boots gliding silently over the smooth stone
floor. All around him the sprawling vastness of Caer
Callidyrr lay dark and slumbering.
The assassin walked cautiously into one of the
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A DRUID OF MYRLOCH VALE
LET’S GO SWIMMING now! Can’t we, Robyn? It’s so
hot, and we’ve been working so hard. . . .”
“You mean I’ve been working so hard!” said the
young woman, pausing to push a sweat-soaked
strand of black hair back from her face. “All you’ve
done is get in the way!”
Her companion, a two-foot-long orange dragon that
buzzed like a hummingbird around her, turned his