"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 4 - Book of Silence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

The City Council had refused petition after petition, so that he could
not rejoin his wives in Ordunin. The councilors had, in truth, not even taken
the time to consider his requests; they were too busy trying to deal with the
worsening depredations of human pirates along their coasts and could spare no
time from that obsession to discuss clemency for a troublesome renegade
prince. Garth had tried to argue, by proxy, that he had fought pirates before
and could be of sufficient value in fighting them again to make his pardon a
real public benefit, but the Council had continued to ignore him nonetheless.
Things had started to go wrong when he found the so-called Sword of
Bheleu in Dûsarra. Until then, his word had been good and his actions his
own-but at his first sight of the weapon, he had begun to lose control. He had
taken it from the altar of Bheleu, god of destruction, without any conscious
decision to do so, and thereafter had been seized every so often by fits of
what appeared to be a form of bloodthirsty madness. He had gradually come to
realize, though, that some external power was possessing him, using the sword
as a conduit. Even knowing that, he had been unable to free himself.
As the power had gained in influence and clarity, it had declared itself
to him, claiming to be Bheleu himself, come to assert his dominance over the
dawning Fourteenth Age, the Age of Destruction, through his chosen mortal
host.
Garth had declined to serve willingly as host to the god, if god it
truly was. His refusal had done little good; the god had controlled him
anyway, and he had been unable to put down the sword.
While under the sway of the god and his sword, Garth had slain the
previous Baron of Skelleth and destroyed much of the village.
In the days that had followed, as he became more aware of the sword's
nature and seemingly limitless magical power, his companions had grown to
trust him less and less. That had been the period when Skelleth's new
government had taken shape, and Garth had been excluded on the basis of the
madness the weapon had induced. He had not argued with that decision; he had
been conscious of his own erratic behavior and therefore had been far more
concerned with freeing himself of Bheleu's control than with village politics.
The sword was a magnificent weapon, a great two-handed broadsword with
an immense red gem in its pommel. It was supernaturally indestructible, able
to cut through stone or metal with ease, and could control the elements,
summon or disperse storms, even shake the very earth. It gloried in fire and
could burn in a hundred strange ways without being consumed. Had it not been
under the evil aegis of Bheleu, dedicated to wanton destruction, Garth would
have been proud to be the chosen wielder of such a thing.
As it was, though, he had wanted nothing but to free himself and he had
at last done so. He no longer had the sword. The sword alone had been
responsible for his madness, so that with its loss he was himself again; for
these two years and several months past, he had been as sane and trustworthy
as ever in his life, yet he was still not allowed to hold any post in
Skelleth's little bureaucracy for fear he would again turn berserk. He
resented this exclusion.
Perhaps the deepest hurt to his pride and self-esteem, however, was a
personal matter, one closely tied to the malevolent power of the Sword of
Bheleu and to his freedom from that power. The voice of the professed god of
destruction had told him that he, Garth, had been born to serve Bheleu;