"Sean Russell - River Into Darkness 1 - Beneath the Vaunted Hills" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Sean)

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Book Information:
Genre: Fantasy
Author: Sean Russell
Name: Beneath the Vaunted Hills
Series: River Into Darkness 1
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Beneath the Vaunted Hills
River Into Darkness 1
By Sean Russell




Prologue
HE sat before a window that stood slightly ajar and read by starlight. There had been a time when he’d
preferred the warm light of day, but in the decades since the passing of his centenary, he’d become more
inclined toward the cool illumination of the stars or even the moon. He studied the stars, of course, and
one could hardly do that by daylight, but even so, he found the pale light so much more restful. Or
perhaps he had just seen enough of the world.

Recently there had been a particular wandering star that he’d been observing nightly, using his improved
telescope—an invention of Skye’s, ironically. This star had a strange halo about it and a fiery tail. Things
even the ancients did not know.

But more than anything he felt its passing. Felt it pull on all the heavenly bodies and, in turn, the effect this
had elsewhere. Here, in the house of Eldrich, for instance.

The mage marked his place with a feather and closed the ancient book with care, placing it on a small
table. He rose and walked out onto the terrace, looking up at the heavens. Eldrich had been reading
Lucklow’s treatise on augury—its practice and its perils. Especially its perils. The chapter on
interpretation particularly fascinated him. Interpretation was the key, and it was the least certain aspect of
the art.

The wandering star, for instance. It meant something—he was utterly sure of that—but try as he might, he