"Jason Henderson - Highlander - The Element of Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Henderson Jason)

Now the god twisted on his ankles, smiling, staring at his Children. The Children
danced back a bit and one of the priests sang:

Unfit are we, to be joined with the god,
Khordas would tire of our home.

The god grew angry, hearing these words, roared from the circle, and approached the
sacred hut near the pit. "Now before me I find this house, the home of one of my
Children. I ask for shelter and companionship and I am denied it, and I will mete
punishment!"

And the Children cowered, and sang of their fear, remembering the great destruction the
god had once seen fit to send them, as the god threw something at the hut, and it burst
into flames.

And now Khordas turned and sought out he who had been planned for, and this man he
seized.

"Lonely is your god, and angry. . .

The man looked like any other, painted blue as he was, and great was the fear in his
eyes. Khordas seized the man, and the Children of the Salamander danced and cried out
in terror, remembered and real, as Khordas tore the disciple apart with his hands, saying
as he did so, "But Khordas does not wish to be angry, he only wishes to be with his
Children," showering the mud across his body with the blood of the victim, and now he
returned to the ring of fire that surrounded the holy pit.

A priest emerged now, from the back of the congregation, and the sea of Children
parted to let him pass as he sang his part:

Take then, oh Khordas, this my daughter, Nerissa.

"Take as your Companion her lovely frame,

Her perfect soul, her worship is yours.

Khordas' blood rushed from his face as he felt her come near, her father pushing her into
the clearing. What was this?

What manner of ... in all the years Khordas had been god he had never seen so perfect a
portrayal of Nerissa, her hair such as he had never seen before, white as snow, skin
utterly without color, her eyes pink. The creature wore no paint, and the mud splashed
up and made holy images on the white skin of her bare feet. But more than this was a
feeling he had never had before, of the air getting thick, smoke on his brain, and the
pink-eyed creature looked at him, and sang with the Children.

This companion your god accepts," said Khordas, as always he said, as every year he
said again. But this time he knew there was something different, that made his
mudladen belly quiver, a force that bonded her as no sacrifice had ever bonded to him
before. "Your lives I spare, as I have before.