"Cook, Glen - Filed Teeth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Glen)

"Funny," I remarked to Chenyth. "Heading north into warmer country."
We passed a living circle. It called to us the way the trees called to me.
An end to the weird, wide forest came. We entered grasslands that, within a few hours, gave way to rapidly steepening hills. The peaks loomed higher. The air grew warmer. The hills became taller and more barren. Shadows gathered in the valleys as the sun settled toward the Dragon's Teeth.
Lord Hammer ordered us to pitch camp. He doubled the sentries.
We weren't bothered, but still it was a disturbing night. The earth shuddered. The mountains rumbled. I couldn't help but envision some gargantuan monster resting uneasily beneath the range.

IX

The dawn gods were heaving buckets of blood up over the eastern horizon. Fetch formed us up for a pep talk. "Queen of the dwarves," Brandy mumbled. She was comical, so tiny was she when standing before a mounted Lord Hammer.
"Lord Hammer believes we are about three miles from the Gate of Kammengarn. The valley behind me will lead us there.
From the Gate those who accompany Lord Hammer will descend into the earth almost a mile. Captain Bell weather and thirty men will stay at the Gate. Six men will accompany Lord Hammer and myself."
Her style had changed radically. I had never seen her so subdued.
Fetch was scared.
"Bellweather, your job will be the hardest. It's almost certain that you will be attacked. The people of these hills believe Kammengarn to be a holy place. They know we're here. They suspect our mission. They'll try to destroy us once we prove we intend to profane their shrine. You'll have to hold them most of the day, without Lord Hammer's help."
"Now we know," Brandy muttered. "Needed us to fight his battles for him."
"Why the hell else did he hire us?" Chenyth demanded.
"Knock it off back there!" Fetch yelled.
Lord Hammer's steed pranced impatiently. Hammer's gaze swept over us. It quelled all emotion.
"Lord Hammer has appointed the following men to accompany him. Foud, of the Harish. Aboud, of the Harish. Sigurd Ormson, the Trolledyngjan. Dunklin Hanneker, the Itaskian. Willem Clarig Potter, of Kavelin. Pavlo della Contini-Mar-cusco, of Dunno Scuttari." She made a small motion with her fingers, like someone folding a piece of paper.
"Fetch!..."
"Shut up, Chenyth!" I growled.
Fetch responded, "Lord Hammer has spoken. The men named, please come to the head of the column."
I hoisted my pack, patted Chenyth's shoulder, said, "Do a good job. And stay healthy. I've got to take you back to Mom."
"Will..."
"Hey. You wanted to be a soldier. Be a soldier."
He stared at the ground, kicked a pebble.
"Good luck, Will." Brandy extended a hand. I shook. "We'll look out for him."
"All right. Thanks. Russ. Aral. You guys take care." It was a ritual of parting undertaken before times got tough.
The red-eyed horse started moving. We followed in single file. Fetch walked with Bellweather for a while. After half an hour she scampered forward to her place beside Lord Hammer. She was nervous. She couldn't keep her head or hands still.
I glanced back, past Ormson. "Fight coming," I told the Trolledyngjan. Bellweather was getting ready right now.
"Did you ever doubt it?"
"No. Not really."
The mountains crowded in. The valley narrowed till it became a steep-sided canyon. That led to a place where two canyons collided and became one. It had a flat bottom perhaps fifty yards across.
It was the most barren place I had ever seen. The boulders were dark browns. The little soil came in lighter browns. A few tufts of dessicated grass added sere browns. Even the sky took on an ochre hue...
The blackness of a crack in the mountainside ahead relieved the monochromism.
It was a natural cleft, but there were tailings everywhere, several feet deep, as if the cleft had been mined. The tailings had filled the canyon bottom, creating the little flat.
I searched the hillsides. It seemed I could feel eyes boring holes in my back. I looked everywhere but at that cavern mouth.
The darkness it contained seemed the deepest I had ever known.
Lord Hammer rode directly to it.
"Packs off," Fetch ordered. "Weapons ready." She twitched and scratched nervously. "We're going down. Do exactly as I do."
Bellweather brought the others onto the flat. He searched the mountainsides too. "They're here," he announced.
War howls responded immediately. Here, there, a painted face flashed amongst the rocks.
Arrows and spears wobbled through the air.
There were a lot of them, I reflected as I got myself between my shield and a boulder. The odds didn't look good at all.
Bellweather shouted. His men vanished behind their shields...
All but my baby brother, who just stood there with a stupefied look.
"Chenyth!" I started toward him.
"Will!" Fetch snapped. She grabbed my arm. "Stay here."
Brandy and Russ took care of him. They exploded from behind their shields, tackled the kid, covered him before he got hurt. That got his attention. He started doing the things I had been teaching the past several months.
An arrow hummed close to me, clattered on rock. Then another. I had been chosen somebody's favorite target. Time to worry about me.