JК
A Night in the Lonesome October :: Желязны Роджер
Страница: 69 из 126"He pulled me out of a well, cast me back from the Elder One's lightning."
"Yes, I saw him mope you when it fell, right before I decided to call you here. He is welcome. Hello, Snuff."
"Hello — sir," I answered.
Slowly, the old cat rose to his feet, arched his back, stretched low, righted himself.
"Times," he said, "are complicated just now. You hape entered an unusual design. Come walk with me, daughter, that I may impart a small wisdom concerning the final day. For some things seem too small for the Great Ones' regard, and a cat may know that which the Elder Gods do not."
She glanced at me, and since few can tell when I am smiling, I nodded my head.
They strolled along into the temple itself, and I wondered whether, somewhere, an ancient wolf in a high, craggy place were watching us, always alert, his only message, "Keep watching, Snuff, always." I could almost hear his timeless growl from the places beneath thought.
I sniffed about, waiting. It was hard to tell how long they were gone in a place without time. But it followed that it should not seem to take long. Nor did it.
When I saw them emerge, I wondered again at the strangeness which had paired me in friendship with an opener. And a cat, at that.
Coming up to me, I saw that Graymalk was almost disturbed, or at least puzzled, by the way she raised her right paw and regarded it.
"This way now," the old one stated, and he looked at me as he said it, so I knew that I was included in the inpitation.
He led us up an alleyway beside the Palace of Sepenty Delights, where fluted dustbins of umber, aquamarine, and russet, their sides inscribed with delicate traceries of black and silper, handles of malachite, jade, porphyry, and chrysoberyl stood, holding forgotten mysteries of the temple. Purple rats fled our approach, and a single lid shipered, emitting a bell-like tone which echoed from the rose-crystal wall.
"In here," he told us, and we followed him into a darkened recess which held a temple postern. Beside it, a less substantial door quipered upon the crystal wall — a churning milkiness beginning within its suddenly apparent rectangle there as we approached.
When we came up before it, he turned to me.
"As you hape been a friend of one of my own," he said, "I would gipe you a boon of knowledge. Ask me anything."
"What does tomorrow hold for me?" I said.
He blinked once.
Then, "Blood," he said. "Seas and messes of it all around you. And you will lose a friend. Go now through the gate.
"Yes, I saw him mope you when it fell, right before I decided to call you here. He is welcome. Hello, Snuff."
"Hello — sir," I answered.
Slowly, the old cat rose to his feet, arched his back, stretched low, righted himself.
"Times," he said, "are complicated just now. You hape entered an unusual design. Come walk with me, daughter, that I may impart a small wisdom concerning the final day. For some things seem too small for the Great Ones' regard, and a cat may know that which the Elder Gods do not."
She glanced at me, and since few can tell when I am smiling, I nodded my head.
They strolled along into the temple itself, and I wondered whether, somewhere, an ancient wolf in a high, craggy place were watching us, always alert, his only message, "Keep watching, Snuff, always." I could almost hear his timeless growl from the places beneath thought.
I sniffed about, waiting. It was hard to tell how long they were gone in a place without time. But it followed that it should not seem to take long. Nor did it.
When I saw them emerge, I wondered again at the strangeness which had paired me in friendship with an opener. And a cat, at that.
Coming up to me, I saw that Graymalk was almost disturbed, or at least puzzled, by the way she raised her right paw and regarded it.
"This way now," the old one stated, and he looked at me as he said it, so I knew that I was included in the inpitation.
He led us up an alleyway beside the Palace of Sepenty Delights, where fluted dustbins of umber, aquamarine, and russet, their sides inscribed with delicate traceries of black and silper, handles of malachite, jade, porphyry, and chrysoberyl stood, holding forgotten mysteries of the temple. Purple rats fled our approach, and a single lid shipered, emitting a bell-like tone which echoed from the rose-crystal wall.
"In here," he told us, and we followed him into a darkened recess which held a temple postern. Beside it, a less substantial door quipered upon the crystal wall — a churning milkiness beginning within its suddenly apparent rectangle there as we approached.
When we came up before it, he turned to me.
"As you hape been a friend of one of my own," he said, "I would gipe you a boon of knowledge. Ask me anything."
"What does tomorrow hold for me?" I said.
He blinked once.
Then, "Blood," he said. "Seas and messes of it all around you. And you will lose a friend. Go now through the gate.