"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 3 - Sword Of Bheleu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

sign of mounting anger among overmen. Galt and Kyrith both noted it, and
Kyrith put a hand on her husband's arm, attempting to calm him.
Galt noticed the gesture, and something else caught his eye as well.
Koros stood behind its master, and an immense two-handed broadsword, easily
six feet in length, was thrust horizontally through the warbeast's harness,
along the creature's right flank. A huge red jewel was mounted in the weapon's
pommel, and the gem was glowing with an eerie, bloody light of its own.
"Garth," he said, "that's an interesting sword there. Where did you get
it?"
Garth turned to glance at the sword and froze when he saw the crimson
glow. He had been working up to a murderous fury, imagining himself using the
sword to impale a cowering, whimpering Baron of Skelleth; visions of blood and
fire had been flashing, through his mind. Now, he struggled to suppress those
urges.
For a moment he regretted leaving Frima in Saram's care; had she been
there, she would probably have warned him sooner.
When he thought he had himself more or less under control, he said, "I
found it in Dûsarra, in a ruined temple. It appears to have some sort of
enchantment to it." He found himself curiously reluctant to speak of it, and
therefore did not explain the nature of its power over him and did not mention
Bheleu or any other deities.
"It's magical? Is that why it's glowing?" Galt was fascinated; he had
heard of magic, but had never before seen any at first hand. He looked more
closely. The glow seemed to have dimmed somewhat, but it was still clearly
visible.
"Yes"
Galt stepped around the other two, to get a better view of the strange
gem.
"Don't touch it!" Garth roared.
Startled, Galt stepped back. "I wasn't going to."
Garth was annoyed with himself; there had been no need to bellow at
Galt. He was unreasonably touchy about anything having to do with the sword,
it seemed; he told himself that he would have to keep that in check. He would
also have to get rid of the sword, and quickly; its hold on his emotions
seemed to be getting stronger and had been quite dangerous enough before. It
would not do to go into a killing frenzy while negotiating with the Baron of
Skelleth.
On the other hand, it was a beautiful weapon, a magnificent blade; it
would be a very impressive thing to have along during negotiations. He would
take it, he decided, and keep himself under careful control. After all, he
could not safely leave it lying around untended and he would not trust it in
the hands of any of these idiotic volunteers. He would worry about disposing
of it after he had settled with the Baron.
He had turned away as he reached this decision and therefore did not see
the glow flare up brightly once more. Galt saw the increased brightness, but
did not realize it had any significance and said nothing. His attention was
distracted from the sword when Garth announced, "I want the entire company
packed up within an hour, so that we will have time to reach the market square
and set up camp there before full dark." Galt turned away to help in breaking
camp and paid no more attention to the great sword or the shining jewel.