Цитаты из произведения The Court of Broken Knives

Just visible behind the High Altar was the curtained entrance to the room beyond. The room one did not speak of. The room in which a child would already be lying, waiting to die. Orhan turned away. Don`t look. It is necessary. But don`t look. God`s great hunger for lives was a mystery of which he and most other educated…

"Oh, come on. I know what you`re doing. I can guess why. I might as well be involved already, frankly. I just need you to tell me when and how." "Ask your spies, then. Or better yet, ask mine. They`re so badly paid they`ll tell you anything for a gold talent." "A talent? My dear Lord Emmereth, they charged six dhol the…

The weight of the stars felt crushing on his body, the endless remorselessness of them, the sheer number of them. Looking up into them was like a death, an annihilation of self. The great abyss, yawning over everything. The dark. All there really was was the dark. The one true thing. He could feel it, deep inside his…

The sun shines in at the window. The water sparkles. The waves dance. Warm gentle afternoon sunlight. The smell of the sea. The dark-haired boy sleeps again. A look of peace on his face. The fair-haired boy sits and strokes his hair. Kisses him. Weeps.

We live and we die. Not one without the other. Death is as natural as life, we say, and as great a blessing. No light without darkness. No joy without pain. Life is a glory. Death is a sweet release. We lie, of course.

The people of Tarboran built vast tombs to their dead, as high as watchtowers, gilded and carved and fragrant with cedar wood. The money they must have spent, the time they must have laboured! A rich man`s tomb was planned for him from the day he was born. Imagine it, going every day to supervise the construction of your…

"Get up, boy, or I`ll have Rate and Alxine drag you out of here." Marith blinked and smiled and something dark and rotten climbed out from behind his eyes. The background noises in the room faded. A sound from far off like a sword being drawn. "No." "This is an order. We leave, now, and tomorrow you`ll be whipped." "I…

The noise and the confusion was almost too much for him, after the long days of silence in the desert send. He had liked the emptiness, the feeling of it like a pain in his body, fear and yearning and sorrow that cut like great claws. Dragon`s claws, he thought with a bitter laugh. Everything had seemed briefly easier,…

The soldiers stared at them, asked them a few bored questions, waved them on. Past the gatehouse they stepped into the great cavern of the wall. The air stank of metal. Their footsteps echoed, a ringing sound that was unpleasant to the ear. None of them spoke. It took perhaps ten paces to walk through. A very long ten…

Mostly, my life is as dull and repetitive as any other. I have seen old pictures of emissaries from half the world kneeling in the Great Temple, spellbound and trembling before the might of Great Tanis Who Rules All Things. Now I officiate to peasants and petty merchants, while foreign kings laugh at us for our beliefs…