"Van Lustbader, Eric - Pearl 01 The Ring of Five Dragons(eng)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Lustbader Eric)

"The gyreagle talon pulsed inside you?" she said.
"Yes. It was as if it was drawing me down here to the caverns."
"And then the Door to the Storehouse opened?"
"Yes. And I saw the creature."
"Tell me. What did it look like?"
When he told her, she began to shake. "Do you remember its color?"
"It was the purest sea-green."
"The Dragon Seelin." Her voice was a hushed whisper. "No one living has seen a Sacred Dragon—"
"I did see it."
"I might have thought you were hallucinating," she breathed, "but only a Sacred Dragon could have removed the gyreagle talon and healed you like that."
"And when I woke up I found a book beside me."
"What kind of book?"
"An old book with worn leather covers. It is Kundalan, I think. I will show you when I am finished."
He could feel the three snakelike threads. It was difficult with all the blood and her own ganglia nearby to tell one from the other. The thinnest, she had said. Sever the thinnest first. Suddenly chilled, he hesitated.
"Go on," she said softly. "You can do it, Annon. I know it."
He licked his lips, looking very much like his father. "Giyan, tell me about the Dragons."
Giyan closed her eyes, whether out of pain or concentration he could not say. "The Five Sacred Dragons created Kundala and all the heavens around it. The Ramahan claim they are Mьna's children, just like the Hagoshrin, guardians of The Pearl. What is the reality of it? I simply do not know. I doubt that even the konara, the senior priestesses who make up the Dea Cretan, the Ramahan High Council, could tell us."
One-two-three. He thought he had found the right thread. At least, it seemed the thinnest.
"I have found it."
"What are you waiting for, then? Cut it."
He moved the blade a millimeter.
Her breathing slowed. "Don't… Try not to damage the okuuut," she said. "With luck, it will continue to transmit for a time after you have severed it and we can mislead Stogggul's cadre as to our whereabouts."
He nodded and began. With her free hand, she wiped away the sweat running down his face. He could feel the hardness of the Gyrgon-made thread against the edge of the blade and he summoned his courage and strength, all at once shoving it forward, severing it.
Giyan gave a little gasp. Her head came down onto her chest, her sifeyn hiding her expression. "Thank you," she whispered.
He worked quickly now, moving the tip in a semicircle, lifting the thing out of her. While she dug out her herbs, he peered at the okuuut. It was filmed in blood, and he used his thumb to clean it off. He turned it over, saw the raw roots of the severed wires.
"It's dead," he said. "The moment I cut the ganglia it shut down."
"Bad luck," she said as she packed the wound with the herbs, wrapped it in part of the bandage she was going to use to bind his wounds. "There are times when misdirection has its merits."
"How are you?" he asked.
She looked at him. Her eyes were losing their glassy appearance. "I will be fine, Annon."
He stood, handed her the bolt, wiped the scalpel on his trouser leg. He almost let go of it, then thought better of it.
"Now, show me the book," she said.
Was it his imagination, or was she looking at him with an odd expression? He pulled out the small book from inside the waistband of his trousers and handed it to her. Her hands were shaking as she opened it.
"It is Kundalan, isn't it?" he said. "But the writing—You taught me to read Kundalan, but I can't read this."
"It is written in the Old Tongue." She was flushed and breathless. She held it out, but he shook his head.
"It is Kundalan. You should have it."
Her eyes were shining as she pressed the book into his hands. "It was given to you for a reason, Annon. Hide it, keep it safe, and under no circumstances are you to tell anyone about it. Understand?"
He nodded, wondering what had just happened. She was looking at him as if she had never seen him before.
He cleared his throat. "We had better be on our way," he said.
Kurgan Stogggul stood on the inner balcony of the regent's suite. The doors had been thrown open, and the curtains blew and billowed like clouds in the still night air. One of Kundala's moons had recently risen. Half its pocked face was visible, like the bones of a very old woman. It hung above the regent's chamber like a lamp about to be extinguished, striking with its cool reflected light the familiar features of Eleusis Ashera. His eyes, already filmed over, were wide and staring as if to make an eternal comment on his untimely death. Kurgan watched sourly as his father held aloft the trophy Kinnnus Morcha had secured for him.
The two of them had been fighting like children. From what he could gather, his father had instructed the Line-General to keep Eleusis Ash-era alive long enough to torture him for the secret to the salamuuun trade, but events had gotten out of hand, according to Morcha, and he had had no choice but to kill the regent. Well, at least his father had a trophy for his bedside, Kurgan thought. In any case, it was his opinion that Eleusis Ashera would never have revealed his secrets in the limited amount of time the Line-General had to work on him. In order for the coup to succeed, his father had to announce by morning that all the Ashera were dead. Not that anyone was interested in his opinion, Kurgan knew. To N'Luuura with them all!!
"The palace is secure. Victory is ours." Kinnnus Morcha proclaimed. "How long have I waited for this moment." The Prime Factor's voice was hoarse from shouting. "Ever since the Gyrgon unjustly ruled against my father, ever since they installed the Ashera as regents? Oh no, longer than that. All my life, it seems I stood in Eleusis Ashera's shadow, all my accomplishments hollow next to the accursed Ashera." He held high the prize of Eleusis Ashera's severed head. "And now at the brink of my finest moment, I must content myself with this." He tapped the temple of his nemesis. "Everything that was in there—all the precious secrets—gone with one thrust of an ion sword."
"Be jubilant" Kinnnus Morcha cried. "Do not allow anything to deny you this moment for, at last, your time is finally come"
"You are right, my friend" Wennn Stogggul spat into Eleusis Ashera's face. "This night I have almost everything I desire."
"And I have no doubt that soon you will have it all."
The two of them toasted each other with fire-grade numaaadis from the regent's cellar.
"No more of that vile cloudy rakkis!" Kinnnus Morcha shouted, wiping his lips, only to down another glass of the strong V'ornn liquor.
Victory, yes, Kurgan thought. For them. But what about me?
"Line-General," the giddy Stogggul said, "when will your Khagggun bring me the head of Annon Ashera?" He lifted his bloody trophy high. "If heads are to be my prizes this night, I would have a matched set"
"That depends," Kinnnus Morcha said. "If you contact the Gyrgon, they can track him instantly by his okummmon."
"You are my tracker, Line-General." Stogggul bit down hard on his contempt. The Lesser Castes knew so little about the Gyrgon. If he contacted them now, they would find Annon Ashera, all right. And doubtless place him on the regent's throne by right of succession. This was an outcome to be avoided at all costs. No, no. He had planned it well. He would go to the Gyrgon in a position of strength, not as a petitioner on his knees.