Читать книгу Gonji: Red Blade from the East - T. C. Rypel - Страница 6

PROLOGUE

Centuries ago, a Central European mountain range, haunted in legend and in fact....

Night, in the walled city of Vedun, manifested itself in exotic mist and shadow. The southern third of the girdling wall abutted the steep precipice of the plateau on which the ancient city had been built, and the sprawling valley below served up a carpet of steaming vapor as the sun set.

To the north, where forested foothills sloped upward to the castle of the Lord Protector, the shadows of clouds danced in the moonlight along treetops and verdant pasture, mingling with forest murmurs to evoke a multitude of unearthly images. One could not help but wonder what interpretations were wrung from these by the forgotten race that had hewn the stonework of Vedun.

But on this night, as the gaping disc of the full moon glowered through threatening cloud cover and down upon the whispering knots of frightened people gathered on the rooftops of the city, a terrible stillness gripped the elements. Time itself was held in abeyance in deference to the awesome drama unfolding at the castle of Baron Rorka.

The chill air amplified and echoed the din of clashing metal and the cries of dying men. Rorka’s city guards banded together on the walls in tight groups of two and three, muttering and gesturing animatedly as the storm suddenly broke.

Flavio, the city council Elder, was the first to spot the prophetess Tralayn on the now rain-slicked wall near the north gate. He pointed her out to Garth, Michael, and Lydia, as the mysterious holy woman spread her arms and gazed into the roiling heavens. The whispering on the rooftops ceased as the populace paused to scrutinize Tralayn’s actions. Her appeal to the Lord for insight and guidance had evidently been intercepted. The answer was instantaneous and perverse.

Tralayn stood in defiance of the shimmering visage that blotted out the sky above the castle and leered obscenely at the city of Vedun. People screamed and scurried off the roofs as if they might be singled out by those fathomless eyes. Domesticated animals snapped their tethers and attacked one another with strident, frenzied cries.

Soon Tralayn alone glared upward into the naked face of Satan.