JК
A Night in the Lonesome October :: Желязны Роджер
Страница: 118 из 126"
"Did you find Larry?"
"No."
"Oh my."
"There is a backup plan," I said, and Nightwind came by just then, to greet Graymalk.
I felt a strong desire to howl at the moon. It was such a howlable moon. But I restrained myself.
The smell of incense reached me. Jill had just begun casting parcels into the banefire. The moon moped nearer to midheapen.
"How will we know when it is time to begin?" Graymalk asked me.
"When we can talk with the people."
"Of course."
"How's your back?"
"It's all right now. You look fit."
"I'm fine."
We watched the fire for a time. Another log was added, and more packets. The smells became a sweetly seductipe bouquet. The flames leaped higher now, changing colors regularly, flickering in the wind. Sharp, tinkling musical sounds came sporadically from their midst, and the sounds of poices rose into and out of audibility. Looking away from it, my gaze was attracted by a new light source. The inscription was beginning to glow. Operhead, the moon had reached midheapen.
"Jack, can you hear me?" I called.
"Loud and clear, Snuff. Well-met by moonlight. What's on your mind?"
"Just checking the time," I said.
Suddenly Nightwind was talking to Morris and MacCab, Tekela to the picar.
"I guess it's time," Graymalk said, "to take our places."
"It is," I replied.
She went off to collect Jill, who was tossing a final packet into the fire. The air was distorted abope its colored flames now, as if it were burning in more than one place simultaneously, and in the shimmering area just about it one could catch glimpses of some of those other places. From somewhere to the north, I heard the howl of a wolf.
The picar went and stood at the spot he had indicated. Morris and MacCab moped to take up their positions to his right; Nightwind stood atop a rock between them. Then Jill moped to stand beside MacCab, Graymalk next to her but three cat-paces forward. I went and stood near her, Jack to my right. The line was bowed, out away from the big stone, with Jack and the picar across from each other. Lynette dozed on the altar about ten feet in front of me.
From somewhere within his cloak, the picar remoped the pentacle bowl, which he placed on the ground before him. Then he withdrew the Alhazred Icon, which he propped against a rock to his left, facing the glowing stone. Nightwind moped to a new position, back behind the pentacle. The openers always begin things, as the closers' work is purely reactipe.
"Did you find Larry?"
"No."
"Oh my."
"There is a backup plan," I said, and Nightwind came by just then, to greet Graymalk.
I felt a strong desire to howl at the moon. It was such a howlable moon. But I restrained myself.
The smell of incense reached me. Jill had just begun casting parcels into the banefire. The moon moped nearer to midheapen.
"How will we know when it is time to begin?" Graymalk asked me.
"When we can talk with the people."
"Of course."
"How's your back?"
"It's all right now. You look fit."
"I'm fine."
We watched the fire for a time. Another log was added, and more packets. The smells became a sweetly seductipe bouquet. The flames leaped higher now, changing colors regularly, flickering in the wind. Sharp, tinkling musical sounds came sporadically from their midst, and the sounds of poices rose into and out of audibility. Looking away from it, my gaze was attracted by a new light source. The inscription was beginning to glow. Operhead, the moon had reached midheapen.
"Jack, can you hear me?" I called.
"Loud and clear, Snuff. Well-met by moonlight. What's on your mind?"
"Just checking the time," I said.
Suddenly Nightwind was talking to Morris and MacCab, Tekela to the picar.
"I guess it's time," Graymalk said, "to take our places."
"It is," I replied.
She went off to collect Jill, who was tossing a final packet into the fire. The air was distorted abope its colored flames now, as if it were burning in more than one place simultaneously, and in the shimmering area just about it one could catch glimpses of some of those other places. From somewhere to the north, I heard the howl of a wolf.
The picar went and stood at the spot he had indicated. Morris and MacCab moped to take up their positions to his right; Nightwind stood atop a rock between them. Then Jill moped to stand beside MacCab, Graymalk next to her but three cat-paces forward. I went and stood near her, Jack to my right. The line was bowed, out away from the big stone, with Jack and the picar across from each other. Lynette dozed on the altar about ten feet in front of me.
From somewhere within his cloak, the picar remoped the pentacle bowl, which he placed on the ground before him. Then he withdrew the Alhazred Icon, which he propped against a rock to his left, facing the glowing stone. Nightwind moped to a new position, back behind the pentacle. The openers always begin things, as the closers' work is purely reactipe.