"Brian Lumley - Born Of The Winds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lumley Brian)

“Yes, but of unknown manufacture. I’ve shown it to three or four experts over the years, and always the
same answer. It is a very ancient thing, but from no known or recognisable culture. Only the fact that it is
made of gold saves it from being completely alien! And even the gold is … not quite right. Kirby has one,
too.”

“Oh?” I could hear the surprise in the judge’s voice. “And where did he get it? Why, just looking at this
thing under the glass, I should have taken it for granted – even knowing nothing of it – that it’s as rare as
it’s old!”

“I believe they are very rare indeed, surviving from an age before all earthly ages. Feel how cold it is. It
has a chill like the ocean floor, and if you try to warm it … but try it for yourself. I can tell you now,
though, that it will notstaywarm. And I know what that means …

“Kirby received his in the mail some months ago, in the summer. We were at home in Mérida, in
Yucatán. As you know, I settled there – after –”

“Yes, yes I know. But who would want to send the boy such a thing – and why?”

“I believe it was meant as – as areminder, that’s all – as a means to awaken in him all I have worked to
keep dormant. I’ve already told you about … about Kirby, about his strange ways even as a baby. I
thought they would leave him as he grew older. I was wrong. That last month before he vanished was the
worst. It was after he received the talisman through the mail. Then, three weeks ago, he – he just packed
a few things and –” She paused for a moment, I believed to compose herself, for an emotional catch had
developed in her voice. I felt strangely moved.

“– As to who sent it to him, that’s something I can’t say, I can only guess, but the package carried the
Navissa postmark! That’s why I’m here.”

“The Navissa –” The judge seemed astounded. “But who would there be here to remember something
that happened twenty years ago? And who, in any case, would want to make a gift of such a rare and
expensive item to a complete stranger?”

The answer when it came was so low that I had difficulty making it out: “There must have beenothers,
Jason! Those people inStillwaterweren’t the only ones who call Him master. Those worshippers of His –
they still exist – they must! I believe it was one of them, carrying out his master’s orders. As for where it
came from in the first place, why, where else but –”

“No, Lucille, that’s quite impossible,” the judge cut her off. “Something I really can’t allow myself to
believe. If such things could be –”

“A madness the world could not face?”

“Yes, exactly!”

“Sam used to say the same thing. None the less he sought the horror out, and brought me here with him,
and then –”

“Yes, Lucille, I know what you believe happened then, but –”