"Michael Moorcock - Elric 8 - The Fortress of the Pearl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

And when Elric had told his three lies to Cymoril, his betrothed, and had set his ambitious cousin Yyrkoon as Regent on the Ru

And when Elric had told his three lies to Cymoril, his betrothed,
and had set his ambitious cousin Yyrkoon as Regent on the Ruby
Throne of Melniboné, and when he had taken leave of Rackhir the
Red Archer, he set off into lands unknown, to seek knowledge which
he believed would help him rule Melniboné as she had never been
ruled before.
But Elric had not reckoned with a destiny already determining that
he should learn and experience certain things which would have a
profound effect upon him. Even before he encountered the blind
captain and the Ship Which Sailed the Seas of Fate, he was to find
his life, his soul and all his idealism in jeopardy.
In Ufych-Sormeer he was delayed over a matter involving a
misunderstanding between four unworldly wizards who amiably and
inadvertently threatened the destruction of the Young Kingdoms
before they had served the Balance's ultimate purpose; and in
Filkhar he experienced an affair of the heart which he would never
again speak about; he was learning, at some cost, the power and
the pain of bearing the Black Sword.
But it was in the desert city of Quarzhasaat that he began the
adventure which was to help set the course of his weird for years
to come. . .
The Chronicle of the Black Sword

PART ONE
Is there a madman with a brain To turn the stuff of nightmare sane
And demons crush and Chaos tame, Who'll leave his realm, forsake
his bride And, tossed by contradictory tides, Give up his pride
for pain?
The Chronicle of the Black Sword

1
A Doomed Lord Dying

It was in lonely Quarzhasaat, destination of many caravans but
terminus of few, that Elric, hereditary Emperor of Melniboné, last
of a bloodline more than ten thousand years old, sometime conjuror
of terrible resource, lay ready for death. The drugs and herbs
which usually sustained him had been used in the final days of his
long journey across the southern edge of the Sighing Desert and he
had been able to acquire no replacements for them in this fortress


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And when Elric had told his three lies to Cymoril, his betrothed, and had set his ambitious cousin Yyrkoon as Regent on the Ru

city which was more famous for its treasure than for its
sufficiency of hie.
Slowly and feebly the albino prince stretched his bone-coloured