"Kate Elliott - Crown of Stars 4 - Child Of Flame" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

"Careful," whispered Ermanrich.тАЭ This whole end is filled with water. God's
mercy! It's like ice."
"Come on, Dedi, come on, lad," coaxed the older of the two wounded Lions to
his young companion, but the other man didn't rouse. Probably he was already
dead.
Ivar found the water's edge, cupped his hands, and drank. The cold cleared his
head for the first time since he had lost his fingers, and finally he could sit back
and survey just how bad their predicament was.
Moonlight cast a glamour over the scene. The pool of water had formed up
against a steep precipice, the face of the hillside. Over the course of uncounted
years a trickling cataract had worn away the cliff face to expose two boulders
capped by a lintel stone. Starlight caught and glimmered in one of the stones,
revealing a carving half concealed behind tendrils of moss. Ivar negotiated the
pool's edge so as not to get his feet wetтАФnot that he wasn't already slopping
filthy with mudтАФand traced the ancient lines: they formed a human figure
wearing the antlers of a stag.
"Look!" Baldwin pushed aside the thick curtain of moss draping down over the
stones to unveil a tunnel that cut into the hillside.
Their side had lost the battle anyway, and they were cut off from Prince Bayan's
retreating army and all their comrades, those who had survived. How could an
ancient tumulus be worse than the Quman? Ivar squeezed past the opening,
wading in. Cold water poured down into his boots, soaking his leggings and
making his toes throb painfully. He couldn't see a thing.
A body brushed against him.тАЭ Ivar! Is that you, Ivar?" "Of course it's me! I
heard a rumor that the Quman fear water. Maybe we can hide here, unless this
pool gets too deep." The ground seemed firm enough, and the water wasn't
deeper than his knees. Plunging his arm into the freezing water, he groped for
and found a stone, tossed it. The plop rang hollow. Water dripped steadily ahead
of them.
Something living scuffled, deep in the heart of the tumulus.тАЭ What was that?"
hissed Baldwin, grabbing Ivar's arm.тАЭ Ow! You're pinching me!"
It was too late. Their voices had already woken the restless dead. A wordless
groan echoed through the pitch-black tunnel.
 "Oh, God." Ivar clutched at Baldwin's arm.тАЭ It's a barrow. We've walked into a
burial pit and now we'll be cursed."
But the voice made words they recognized, however distorted they might be by
the stone and the drip of water.тАЭ Is it you? Is it Ermanrich'ss friends?"
"L-Lady Hathumod?" stammered Baldwin.
"Ai, t-thank the Lady!" Her relief was evident despite the blurs and echoes.тАЭ
Poor Sigfrid was wounded in the arm and we got lost, andтАФand I prayed to God
to show me a sign. And then we fell in here. But it's dry here where we are, and
I think the tunnel goes farther into the hill, but I was too afraid to go on by our-
selves."
"Now what do we do?" whined Baldwin softly.
"Let's get the others and we'll go as deep as we can into the hill. The Quman
will never dare follow us through this water. After a day or two they'll go away,
and we can come out."
"Just like that?" demanded Baldwin.
"Just like that. You'll see."
They trudged back to the mossy entrance, where they found Er-manrich