"Elliott,.Kate.-.Crown.Of.Stars.3.-.Burning.Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

That armor had a scaly gleam, strips of metal sewn onto stiff
leather coats. On a standard fixed to a spear they bore the
mark of the Pechanek clan: the rake of a snow leopard's claw.
The Quman had many tribes. This one he knew well, to his
sorrow.

At the fore rode a rider whose wings shone with the hard iron
fletching of griffin feathers. Like the others he wore a metal
visor shaped and forged into the likeness of a face, blank and
intimidating, but Zacharias did not need to see his face to
know who it was.

Bulkezu.

The name struck at his heart like a deathblow.

A band of fifteen riders approached the ring of stones,
slowing now, the hum of their wings abating. From a prudent
distance they examined the stone circle and split up to scout
its perimeter and assess the stone portals, the lay of the
ground, and the strength of its defenders. The horses shied at
first, made skittish by the great hulking stones or by the
shadow of night that still lingered inside the ring, but taking
courage from their masters, they settled and agreed to move
in closer.

The woman braced herself at the eastern portal with her spear
in one hand. She showed no fear as she waited. The riders
called out to each other. Their words were torn away on a wind
Zacharias could not feel on his skinЧaudible but so distant
that he could make out no meaning to what they shouted to
each other, as though the sound came to him through water.

At once the whirring began again as all the riders kicked into a
gallop and charged, some from the left, some from the right,
some from the other side of the circle. Wings hummed;
hooves pounded; otherwise they came silently except for the
creak and slap of their armored coats against the wooden
saddles.

With the rising sun bright in his eyes, Zacharias saw Bulkezu
as iron wings and iron face and gleaming strips of iron armor.
The two feathers stuck on either side of his helmet flashed
white and brown. The griffin feathers fletched in the curving
wooden wings that were fastened to his back shone with a
deadly iron gleam. Where the ground leveled off, just beyond
the eastern portal, he galloped toward the waiting woman,
lowering his spear.

Zacharias hissed out a breath, but he did not act. He already