"Russell, Sean - River Into Darkness 02 - Compass Of The Soul" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Sean)

one’s sacrifice be in vain.”
She nodded. There was wisdom in this, she was sure. Such a cost. Something must
come of it. “Then what are we to do?” she said softly. “How must we proceed?”
He turned back to the fire, but his eye lit upon the seed and lingered. “We must
vanish again. Perform the rites that will hide our escape from anyone using the
arts to seek us. We must begin tonight.”
“But I am so tired—” Anna began to protest, and Halsey turned on her.
“Tonight!” he said firmly. “Eldrich is near. Already he has almost destroyed us.
I fear that it is this seed he seeks. Perhaps it has been this seed all along,
for let me tell you something, Anna; this seed must be Landor’s own. Do you
understand? Not seed that was cultivated in this world, but came from beyond. We
have long known that the seed lost its power from one planting to the next—
but this…“ He gestured to the precious bundle. ”Use it sparingly. And it must
be cultivated—as soon as you can manage.“
Saying nothing, Halsey disappeared, returning a moment later with a book. This
he passed to her. “Here are some few things I’ve set down these past years.
Knowledge that you do not have. It is in Darian, so there was little chance that
it would have been understood if it had fallen into the hands of another.”
“But why give me this now?”
“We cannot know what might happen. Now come quickly. We will perform the ritual
and leave no trace of our flight for the mage or his servants. No one will be
aware of us again until it is too late.” Quickly, they prepared the few things
they would need to travel at speed. Horses were saddled, burdened with baggage,
and led away from the house lest they sense the arts and bolt.
Halsey began to light candles. Seven tapers were arranged in a pattern on the
floor, and then he took a scented oil and marked the walls with Darian
characters. Using the same oil he began a pattern on the floor, chanting as he
did so.
“You will perform the enchantment,” he said as he completed the pattern.
“But…” she began to protest, and then realized that he was right. She was the
mage emerging: the spell would facilitate the process, and certainly now her
powers outstripped Halsey’s own.
She took up ashes from the fire and sprinkled the still warm powder evenly over
the pattern. When she was finished, she made seven marks upon her face with the
ash and then moved to the pattern’s center.
“Curre d‘ Efeu,” she began. “Heart of flame…” The enchantment was not long but
it was rather intricate and required precise motion and control. Once Halsey
prompted her, for her mind still suffered from fatigue, but she carried on,
knowing the importance of what she did.
Fire erupted in the hearth again, and when she placed a hand near the floor and
spoke, she drew a line of flame out from the logs. It spread around the pattern.
She was into the spell, to the point where it would be dangerous to stop, when a
fierce tapping drew her attention. The chough was
at the window, frantically beating its wings and beak against the glass.
Anna blocked out the sounds, the questions.
Halsey spoke unexpectedly, his deep, gravelly tones forming Darian with an
authority that none of the others had ever mastered. But what was he doing?
The room seemed so far away, the world so remote, so dreamlike. Halsey sprinkled
something over the pattern, holding an object in his hand—an object of dread.
And then the realization gripped her, dragging her back to the world, to the