"Dixie Lee McKeone - Tales of Uncle Trapspringer" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKeone Dixie Lee)

The Kingpriest of Istar challenged the gods.
The answer had been swift and catastrophic. The great lands of Istar, with its magnificent temples, sank
beneath the Sea of Blood. All over Krynn mountains crumbled, new ranges rose, torn out of the earth by the
anger of the gods. Seas flowed in and drowned great cities. Then, following the rending of the world, came
war, plague, pestilence, and starvation, all riding on the winds of the immortal wrath.
In the minds of the citizens, the wizards and knights shared the blame. They had known the inevitable
result of the Kingpriest's arrogance and had done nothing to stop him. The conclave of wizards had debated
what details they could surmise of the imminent upheaval. They had decided not to interfere. The white-robed
wizards dedicated to lawful practice, the red-robed neutrals, and the black, the followers of the evil Takhisis,
were one in their desire to maintain the balance of good and evil.
 The Cataclysm came and went, and Draaddis Vulter, the most powerful of his order, hid in secret and trod
the passages of an old dungeon and used the torture chamber for his laboratory.
Shelves lined the walls and ancient books in their black bindings were strewn about carelessly on the
work tables, as if pulled from the shelves, searched, and thrown down in anger and frustration.
Across the vaulted chamber other shelves held the results of vile experiments, grisly parts of what had
once been living beings, denied a natural death. In one, an animal heart continued a slow, even beat. In
another a scaled and clawed hand, severed at the wrist, grasped at the air as it pushed against the side of its
glass container. Open crocks held working mixtures, their surfaces in slow and constant movement as
bubbles broke the viscous surfaces and slowly popped, releasing noxious gases.
Draaddis Vulter ignored his abandoned or ongoing experiments and strode to the center of the room. He
approached a stile, four feet high, covered with a black silken drape that was lavishly trimmed with gold. He
lifted the drape, exposing an iridescent black globe two feet in diameter. From it emanated an evil that
caused the wolf, in the ruins two hundred feet above, to whine in his sleep.
An eye appeared in the globe. Heavily lashed and slightly slanted at the outer corner, it was definitely a
female eye. Draaddis gave a low bow.
"Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, Our Lady of the Dragons, Ruler of the Nine Hells, " he murmured.
"Greetings. "
"Why have you called me, Draaddis?"-the voice was low and sultry, filling the wizard with shivers of fear
and delight-"Have you found an answer?"
"Not one of my own making, my queen, but I may have discovered a way for you to enter this world. I
wanted to lay my findings before you in the hope that your divine wisdom would help me decide if the
discovery is what we seek. "
The single eye of the evil goddess brightened. More than a millennium had passed since Huma, riding the
silver dragon Gwynneth, had used the dragonlances to drive Takhisis and her chromatic dragons from the
world of Krynn. From the First Plane of the Infernal Realms, Takhisis could only peer through magically
constructed windows like the globe. She lusted for the corruption she could create if she could reach the
world of mortals again.
"Tell me, " she demanded. "Show me, "
"Ten days ago, while traveling on the shadow plane-"
"Ten days?" Takhisis hissed and the chamber floor suddenly flowed with serpents. They coiled on the
tables and slithered down the stools, massing on the floor and crawling over each other to reach the wizard.
Draaddis's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He shuddered uncontrollably. They slithered up his legs,
wrapped themselves around his arms, their fanged mouths struck at his face and neck. The fangs tore at his
flesh and the poison from the fangs burned through his veins like rivers of fire.
He trembled violently and forced himself to remember illusion was the only power the goddess could use
against him.
Shut them out. He ordered his mind to shut out what his eyes and nerves told him was true.
He found his voice and continued his explanation. He forced himself to think beyond the crushing, biting
pain and the fire in his blood.
"And while on the shadow plane I chanced to meet another wizard, a young red robe, seeking a way to