"Troy Denning - Return of the Archwizards 2 - The Siege" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denning Troy)

it is.
Then it's good you are watching over me. I am gratefulтАФvery grateful.
Vala looked away, then spoke aloud. "Galaeron, it isn't fair to hold me to
that promise ... not now."
"Nevertheless, I do hold you to it." Galaeron's voice was firm. "When the
time comes, you must not hesitate."
"If, Galaeron." They reached the shore, and Vala sat down to remove her
greaves. "If the time comes."
Galaeron turned away without answering and started down the shore, moving
far enough away that they both could not be struck down by the same spell.
Vala looked back across the lake to where the shadow lords were just closing
the last few breaches in the shadow curtain. Though the shadow lords had left
their armor on shore, all were armed with glassy black weapons similar to
Vala's darkswordтАФone reason, no doubt, that the enemy was being so careful to
remain concealed.
The two phaerimm Galaeron had noticed hung about fifty feet apart in a rough
line on the interior side of the curtain. On the flanks of their conical
bodies, Vala could see a regular pattern of bumps where their body thorns lay
concealed beneath the hardened lime-mud they had used to disguise their scaly
hides. The third phaerimm, the one Galaeron had missed, hung over the mineral
pads about forty paces away, barely noticeable in the gloomy boundary between
dark and light. Though Vala had no way of guessing whether the creatures had
seen enough to defeat the shadow curtain, the simple fact that they were
making no attempt to stop the final Splicing made clear what they believed.
Finding no signs of any enemies beyond the three already located, Vala stood
and waded back into the lake,

angling toward Prince Escanor to avoid alerting the phaerimm. She had no idea
how Galaeron had sensed the enemy's presenceтАФor why that had brought on a
ChangeтАФbut she felt confident in his conclusions. Every good warrior knew the
value of camouflage, and the thornbacks were nothing if not good warriors.
When Vala drew within throwing range of the nearest phaerimm, she stopped
and looked back. Galaeron was just setting a loop of shadowsilk on a stone
beside him. He peeled another strand off the mat of dull fabric he was
holding, then soaked it in a drop of armor oil and glanced in Vala's
direction. She nodded. He pressed the filament to the limestone wall, his lips
already moving as he spoke his spell incantation.
A film of oily shadow spread across the ceiling, filling the cavern with a
soft, rainlike patter as thousands of drops of water lost their tenuous hold
and plummeted into the lake. Vala drew her darksword and in a single smooth
motion sent it whirling up at the nearest phaerimm. The glassy black blade
tore a three-foot gash across the thornback's body and became lodged with
little more than the hilt showing.
The stain on the ceiling swept past overhead. The astonished phaerimm came
loose one after the other, the hardened lime-mud camouflage falling in cakes
from their squirming bodies and their strange language of winds stirring the
air into whistling vortexes. The phaerimm hit the water almost as one and sank
beneath the surface.
Escanor and his shadow lords stopped working and whirled toward the splash
rings, shouting to each other in their own language and trying to make sense