The Riftwar Legacy: The Complete 4-Book Collection. Raymond E. Feist

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СКАЧАТЬ and still send a brother up there to snoop around from time to time, just to ensure nothing disturbs the status quo.’

      ‘I noticed the next two lecturers are men Bas-Tyra trusts.’

      Graves nodded. ‘There’re too many strange things going on for him to do otherwise. Some of the other nobles …’ he shrugged. ‘They’re not as trustworthy as they could be.’

      ‘You don’t think treason, do you?’

      ‘I don’t know what to think,’ said Graves. ‘I’m a former thief who has been handpicked by the temple in Rillanon for a potentially difficult, even critical assignment.’ He looked down as if afraid to look James in the eyes. ‘I don’t know if I’m equal to the task.’

      ‘I’ve never heard you act the shy role before, Ethan.’

      Graves sighed. ‘There’s a lot you don’t know, Jimmy. I have some old … ties, you could say. They aren’t easily broken. You know how it is.’

      James laughed. ‘Better than most. I have a death mark on me from the Mockers if I cross their boundaries, yet I do so all the time. And they conveniently ignore my trespass when it suits them. I know what you mean, I think.’

      Graves said, ‘I hope when the time comes you do know what I mean.’ He stood up. ‘I must retire. There’s a great deal to be done around here. Have a good night, Jimmy.’

      ‘You too, Ethan.’

      James undid his own bedding and lay down next to Owyn, who was already fast asleep. As he drifted off himself, he wondered just what Graves had meant by ‘when the time comes’.

      

      The north wind cut through the night. James huddled under his cloak as the three stayed close to their fire. The road from Malac’s Cross to Silden was far less travelled than the King’s Highway to Salador, but it was a more direct route. Behind them, the three horses James had purchased, along with tack, were quietly eating the grain he had bought for them.

      Owyn said, ‘James, I’m worried about something and I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it since we left Malac’s Cross.’

      Gorath said, ‘You have seemed troubled.’

      James asked, ‘What is it?’

      ‘I don’t know exactly, but it’s something I picked up from the Oracle … A sense of foreboding.’

      ‘Given our circumstances,’ said Gorath, ‘that is not particularly inappropriate.’

      ‘What do you mean?’ asked James, looking intently at Owyn.

      ‘It’s like the Oracle was worried.’

      James was silent, then said, ‘I’m no expert, and I’ve never seen the Oracle myself, but from what I hear, the Oracle can tell futures, but not her own.’

      ‘Futures?’ said Gorath.

      James paused, then said, ‘Maybe I’m telling it wrong, but the magician Pug once told me that the future is not set in stone, but the result of many acts, and that by changing an act today, the future changes.’

      Owyn said, ‘As if you had not come south, Gorath, Delekhan’s plans would be further along.’

      ‘I understand that,’ said Gorath. ‘But if the future is fluid, what good is an Oracle?’

      James shrugged. ‘There is a great deal of wisdom in this Oracle, I have been told.’

      Owyn looked at Gorath and said, ‘I think James is right. But I still don’t know about that feeling of worry.’

      ‘Perhaps the Oracle’s fate is bound up in what we do,’ suggested Gorath. ‘Then it would be difficult for her to see the future, if what James said is correct. Perhaps that is the source of the worry.’

      James said nothing. He was one of the few who knew of the existence of the Lifestone under Sethanon. Only a handful of those who had been at the battle knew of the magic relic from the time of the Dragon Lords. Few knew that the Oracle of Aal was the guardian of the Lifestone and resided in a vast chamber below the City of Sethanon.

      The statue at Malac’s Cross was designed to mislead those who knew nothing of the dragon Oracle’s existence. Should any come seeking the Oracle, it provided the means for them to contact her without actually being in her presence.

      James said, ‘I’m trying to puzzle together some things. We have Tsurani Great Ones getting their riches stolen, so that Tsurani renegades can sell them to moredhel raiders, who swap them for weapons. We have a false Guild of Death, maybe to mask some real Nighthawks who survived the night we burned their headquarters to the ground in Krondor, and a lot of false trails in the west predicting an invasion from the north.’

      Gorath said, ‘My people will proceed cautiously. They will want some indication from Delekhan that Murmandamus indeed is alive in Sethanon, being held there against his will, before they will march.’

      James said, ‘No offence to your people, but that sort of “proof” is easy to make.’

      ‘Agreed,’ said Gorath, ‘which is why Delekhan is attempting to remove all of us who were in opposition to him.’

      James lay back, wrapping the cloak around him. ‘Well, we may find answers or we may not, but right now I could use some sleep.’

      ‘You going to look for that double of yours in Lyton?’ asked Owyn.

      ‘It’s on the way,’ said James. ‘Might as well while we’re passing through town.’

      Owyn rolled over, trying to get close enough to the fire to stay warm without burning himself. Gorath just lay silently, until he was asleep.

      Sleep was a long time in coming for James as he wrestled with all the fragments and clues he had. Somewhere in all this apparent chaos was a pattern; somehow all the pieces came together and made sense.

      

      The ride to Lyton was uneventful until they reached the outskirts of the town at sundown. Off the side of the road stood a forlorn farm, abandoned by the look of it, with a ramshackle barn, around which skulked black-clad figures.

      Gorath saw them first, and James said, ‘I wouldn’t have even noticed them if you hadn’t pointed them out to me.’

      ‘There are four of them, and they seem very curious as to the contents of that abandoned barn,’ said the dark elf.

      James said, ‘My bump of trouble is itching like mad. I think we’ve found our real Nighthawks.’

      Owyn said, ‘What do we do?’

      Pulling out his sword, James replied, ‘Kill them before they notice us, if we’re lucky.’

      He turned his horse off the road and moved forward at a trot. They travelled across an abandoned field overgrown with tall grass which rose to chest height on the horses. It masked their movement for a while, as the dark-clad figures seemed intent on the barn, which allowed James and his companions to СКАЧАТЬ