"Andre Norton - WW - Estcarp Cycle 04 - Warlock of the Witch World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Rightfully, my adventure begins in the Valley—which
was a lightsome place in which the heart could rejoice.
Through the years the ones who dwelt there had set such
Symbols and bonds about it that it remained free of all
evil—a place in which a man could take his ease. I knew

those Symbols from my studies at Lormt and I thought
them high protection.

Peaceful as it was in the Valley, we could not give our-
selves to rest there, for about us the whole of Escore was
astir. Long ago this land had been riven time and time
again with wars as great as those which now gnawed
our homeland in the west. Here men and women had sought
knowledge, and then passed beyond the bonds set by pru-
dence for such seeking. There arose those who sought
power for the sake of power alone; and from that always
issues the Shadow which is darker than any night. There
was a drawing apart and some of the Old Race retreated
over the mountains, wrecking behind them all roads, clos-
ing their minds to the past.

Then the remnants warred, titanic and awful force against
force, blasting and blighting. Some, such as the Green Peo-
ple, who abode still by laws, drew back into the places
of wilderness. And to them came others—a handful of
humans of good will; others who were the result of early
experimentation by the dabblers in strange knowledge, yet
were not evil, nor had been used for evil purposes.

But all these were too few and too weak to challenge
the Great Ones, drunk with their controls of energies be-
yond our comprehending. So they lay very low and waited
for the storms to sweep and ebb. Some of the Dark Ones
destroyed each other in those blasting struggles. Others
withdrew through Gates they had opened that led to other
times and spaces—even as that gate through which my
father had come into Estcarp. But all of their striving left be-
hind pools of ancient evil, servants who were freed or
abandoned. It was unknown, too, whether or not they
might choose to return if something chanced to summon
them.

When we first came into Escore, Kaththea had drawn
upon her witch learning to save and aid us. In so doing
she had broken the false calm which had long abode here.
Things awoke and gathered, and the land was troubled,
so that the Green People believed we were on the eve of