"Роджер Желязны. Lord of Light (Лорд Света, engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

"Had I known at the time how well I wrought," said Yama, "I might have
numbered its days intentionally. Occasionally, do I regret my genius."
It passed beneath the Bridge of the Gods, swung above the jungle, fell
away to the south. Its roar gradually diminished as it departed in that
direction. Then there was silence.
A bird made a brief piping noise. Another replied to it. Then all the
sounds of life began again and the travelers returned to their trail.
"He will be back," said Yama, and this was true. Twice more that day
did they have to leave the trail as the thunder chariot passed above their
heads. On the last occasion, it circled the monastery, possibly observing
the funeral rites being conducted there. Then it crossed over the mountains
and was gone.
That night they made camp under the stars, and on the second night they
did the same.
The third day brought them to the river Deeva and the small port city
of Koona. It was there that they found the transportation they wished, and
they set forth that same evening, heading south by bark to where the Deeva
joined with the mighty Vedra, and then proceeded onward to pass at last the
wharves of Khaipur, their destination.
As they flowed with the river, Sam listened to its sounds. He stood
upon the dark deck, his hands resting on the rail. He stared out across the
waters where the bright heavens rose and fell, star bending back upon star.
It was then that the night addressed him in the voice of Ratri, from
somewhere nearby.
"You have passed this way before, Tathagatha."
"Many times," he replied. "The Deeva is a thing of beauty under the
stars, in its rippling and its folding."
"Indeed."
"We go now to Khaipur and the Palace of Kama. What will you do when we
arrive?"
"I will spend some time in meditation, goddess."
"Upon what shall you meditate?"
"Upon my past lives and the mistakes they each contained. I must review
my own tactics as well as those of the enemy."
"Yama thinks the Golden Cloud to have changed you."
"Perhaps it has."
"He believes it to have softened you, weakened you. You have always
posed as a mystic, but now he believes you have become one - to your own
undoing, to our undoing."
He shook his head, turned around. But he did not see her. Stood she
there invisible, or had she withdrawn? He spoke softly and without
inflection:
"I shall tear these stars from out the heavens," he stated, "and hurl
them in the faces of the gods, if this be necessary. I shall blaspheme in
every Temple throughout the land. I shall take lives as a fisherman takes
fish, by the net, if this be necessary. I shall mount me again up to the
Celestial City, though every step be a flame or a naked sword and the way be
guarded by tigers. One day will the gods look down from Heaven and see me
upon the stair, bringing them the gift they fear most. That day will the new
Yuga begin.