"Douglas Niles - Forgotten Realms - Moonshae 01 - Darkwalker On Moonshae" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niles Douglas)

DARKWALKER
ON MOONSHAE
Douglas Niles
PRELUDE

THE GODDESS AWAKENED slowly from her cold sleep, awareness returning as the
chill blanket of the passing season fell away. Turning with imperial grace,
she sought the life-giving force of the renewed sun.
Soon she felt its warmth upon the long and gravelly beaches of her coastlines,
and upon the stagnant expanses of her low, flat marshes. Slowly, the sun drove
winter's blanket from the rolling moors and tilled fields.
The white mantle remained thick and heavy among the forests and glens of the
goddess, and the highlands still showed no sign of acknowledging winter's end.
This was all as it should be, and the goddess rejoiced in the growing vitality
of her body, the earth.
She had grown smaller, of late, but her strength was great. Her lands, though
threatened, were in the capable care of her druids, and even the harbingers of
the new gods treated her with a certain deference. In the Moonwells - places
where her power flowed directly from her spirit to her body - water of high
magic lay clear and pristine among thick pines, and in rocky clefts.
Cool seas bathed her lands, cleansing the debris and decay left by the passing
of winter. The goddess saw that her children still slept peacefully. They
could, she hoped, sleep long years still before she needed to call them.
Through the Moonwells, she saw the clearing skies. No longer did the heavy,
iron-gray stormclouds oppress her. The Ffolk were active, preparing for a new
season of growth. The druids moved among the trees and mountains of her wild
reaches, restoring places where winter had disrupted the Balance.
Yet, as she threw off her blanket, she felt a sudden, stabbing pain,
penetrating deep within her. Hot and threatening, the injury seemed ready to
spread like a cancer through her self.
One of the Moonwells was the source of the pain. Instead of providing a window
into the world, full of cool and healthy power, the well burned like a
poisoned wound. Very black, it blocked the light and absorbed her power,
instead of nourishing it. As she awakened, the goddess felt fear.
And she knew that, once again, the Beast would stalk the land.




BOOK I


I
EQUINOX

THE FIELDS AROUND Caer Corwell beckoned brightly, as colored tents, proud
banners, and gay costumes all competed for the eye of the fairgoer. The
Festival of the Spring Equinox signaled the end of winter, and the beginning
of a season of new hope and promise. To such an event, the Ffolk would come
from throughout the Kingdom of Corwell, and even beyond, to join the