The Serpentwar Saga: The Complete 4-Book Collection. Raymond E. Feist

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Forest of Irabek, darker and more fearful than our own Green Heart. They died in numbers getting through, but at last they did and then they struck the city of Hamsa. The King of Hamsa warred for five years with this army and hired mercenaries from as far away as the City of the Serpent River at the other end of the continent. We have dealings with this city, which is how we came to hear of this invading army.’

      Calis paused. ‘Prince Arutha suspected who was behind this invasion and sent agents to discover if he was correct. Of thirty men, one returned, barely alive, and confirmed our worst fears.

      ‘Six years ago I was given command of two thousand men and sent to bolster the defenses of the city of Hamsa.’

      Every man listening to Calis was motionless. Only the sound of waves breaking on the rocks below the castle and the cries of seabirds broke the silence.

      ‘There is a race of creatures who live somewhere on Novindus. Some of you may have heard of them as creatures of legend. They are called the Pantathians.’

      Erik turned to look at his companions, and saw Jadow make a sign against evil. The Pantathians were called the Snakes Who Walk Like Men and were creatures of lore conjured up to frighten children into behaving. Unlike trolls and goblins, who were natural creatures living in the distant wilds of the frontier, the serpent men were legends, like dragons and centaurs, and no one believed them real.

      As if reading Erik’s mind, Calis said, ‘These are not legends. I have faced them, and so have these men over here.’ He motioned to the company from the Freeport Ranger. ‘You aboard Trenchard’s Revenge will have the opportunity along the way to talk to these men, your former guards, and to get the benefit of their knowledge. They can tell you from bitter experience how all too real the Pantathians are.

      ‘Two thousand men in ten ships went south to Novindus to battle the enemy as far from home as we might, and only sixty men came home. If you want the full story, there are others who will tell it. Of that sixty, the fifty-eight still living are here.’

      Looking directly at Erik for a moment, then at the other former prisoners around him, he went on. ‘Less than one in twenty who went before returned, and now, five years after returning home, we go to find these invaders again.

      ‘Only this time they are more powerful, more entrenched, and more aware of our part. Each town they conquer joins with them or dies, and when Hamsa fell, of six thousand defenders, four thousand swore oaths to the invaders.

      ‘Those mercenaries who would not were given a day’s truce before they were hunted down.

      ‘This army means to conquer all of Novindus. More, it means to sail here, to the Kingdom, and conquer us after.

      ‘Some of you might think that such chaos would be your perfect chance to escape.’

      Erik glanced around and saw that more than one expression confirmed Calis’s remark.

      ‘If you attempt to leave without permission, at any point along our line of march, Robert de Loungville and I will personally hang you from the nearest tree.

      ‘If you manage to escape, know that you are living on stolen time, for eventually that army will reach any part of Novindus you may hide in and you will serve or you will die.

      ‘Why chance dying now rather than later?’

      He was silent as the men thought on his question. ‘Because,’ answered Calis, ‘these creatures, these serpent men, will not end at conquest. They will eventually destroy everything, and you will die.’

      There was a bit of muttering at this, and to Calis’s surprise it was Nakor who spoke next.

      The bandy-legged little man said, ‘You foolish men! Listen to me! I have seen what these creatures do. They sought to send a plague to us nearly twenty-five years ago. They sought to kill everything in the Kingdom.’

      Jerome made bold to speak. ‘Why would any creature do such a thing?’

      Nakor shrugged. ‘I could tell you, but I scarcely think you’d understand.’

      Jerome, whose temper was as bad as Luis’s, narrowed his gaze at the Isalani. ‘I may have to take abuse from my officers, little man, but I’m not as stupid as you might think. If you speak slowly enough, I just might understand.’

      Nakor glanced at Calis, who nodded. Nakor said, ‘Very well. The Pantathians are not natural beings.’ When Jerome Handy gave him a puzzled look, Nakor said, ‘I’ll speak slowly.’

      Some of the men laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. Calis said, ‘Continue.’

      ‘There was, ages ago on this world, a race called the Dragon Lords.’

      Some of the men made signs against evil and others scoffed openly. ‘Legends!’ shouted one.

      ‘Yes,’ said Calis. ‘Legends, but based upon history. Those beings once ruled this world.

      ‘And one of them, a powerful member of her race, created the Pantathians as her servants. They are an ancient race, raised up by this Dragon Lord from serpents in the swamps of Novindus. Artificial they may have been in their beginning, but they were bred to serve this one. She was called Alma-Lodaka.

      ‘When the Dragon Lords vanished, this race of twisted creatures believed that they were to abide until her return. By means I will not reveal, they have found a way to call her back from the place she resides.

      ‘The unfortunate consequence of such an act would be to destroy all life on this world.’

      ‘No,’ said several men. ‘That can’t be possible,’ said another.

      ‘Possible?’ asked Nakor. ‘What is possible?’ He reached into his sack and drew out an orange. He tossed it to Jerome. Then he took out another and threw it to Erik, and another to another man. After a few minutes, at least a score of oranges came out of the sack.

      Calis said, ‘I thought it was apples?’

      ‘I went back to oranges a few years ago,’ said Nakor as he kept pulling more and more oranges out of the little sack. He held up the sack and showed everyone that it was empty, even turning it inside out. Then he reached in and drew more oranges out and started throwing them to the other soldiers, until more than five dozen oranges had come out of that small sack. ‘Possible?’ he asked.

      He walked up to Jerome Handy, looked up at the big man, and said, ‘Do you think it possible that I could force you to your knees with one hand?’

      Jerome’s eyes narrowed and his complexion flushed, and he said, ‘No, I don’t!’ Erik cleared his throat, and when Jerome turned to look, Erik nodded once toward Sho Pi, who stood behind him. Jerome saw the other Isalani raise a questioning eyebrow; then he turned to Nakor and stared at him for a long moment. Lowering his voice, he said, ‘But maybe you could do it with two hands.’

      Nakor glanced over at Sho Pi and grinned. Turning away, he said, ‘Only need one.’

      To the assembled company he said, ‘Take it on faith, you desperate men. This the Pantathians can do: they can end life as we know it on this world. No bird will sing to greet the dawn, and no insect will buzz from flower to flower. No seed will take root. No child will cry for his mother’s breast, and no thing that crawls, СКАЧАТЬ