"Clayton Emery - Forgotten Realms - Forged In Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

the pirate screamed, a shipmate behind rammed him with a shoulder. The
wounded pirate blundered into the merchant captain, tangling him. A
boarding pike hooked the captain's leg. Tripped up, the captain crashed on
his back. Quick as cats, two female pirates jammed blades in his belly and
throat. With their officers dead, already the sailors were throwing down
their rusty scimitars while the pirates hooted.

"Excellent! Your captain is proud!" yelled Heart of a Lion. Then, since he
was captain, he swiftly marked the progress of the two ships. The pirate's
dromon, a long lean lateen-rigged many-oared vessel named Shark's Fang,
was bound to the merchant's cog by stout ropes tipped with chains and iron
grapnels. Locked, the two ships pitched and yawed in the lee of a big island
to the south. Tharsult of the Shining Sea had many rocky clefts
deep-shadowed by dawn, an excellent spot for ambushing the sea lanes.
Waves burst into spray against its seaweedy shore. With a full day of
bright sun burgeoning, the pirate chief exulted. They could loot this vessel's
cargo and be hidden again by sundown.
Heart of a Lion carried no weapon, only a hollow tube of brass that he
waved while exhorting his crew. "Press on, sons and daughters of seven
devils! Conquer like kings! Drive -- eh? Curse me for a camel boy!"

In a heartbeat, the second pack of pirates had run into a tigress.

Blocking the starboard companionway was the lean woman in pinks and
yellows, the colors of the Nallojal, the Navy of the Caleph of Calimshan.
Her white cork helmet, wrapped with a purple turban and sporting a brass
bill, identified her as a lieutenant of the Imperial Marines. She hefted a
straight sword like some Northerner, and fire flashed from her eyes as she
hollered, "Glory to the Caleph!"

Down in the waist, Heart of a Lion groaned. He may need his brass tube,
despite the danger of burning the ship to the waterline. Didn't anyone
simply surrender anymore?
Charging the lieutenant came a huge pirate named Tasyn, famed for his
brawling and swordwork. He leered as he feinted with his cutlass, relying on
a trick to distract her. While the swordsman feinted, the lieutenant struck.
Cruel as a dragon's claw, her straight-bladed sword skimmed his knuckles
and chunked into a knee carelessly put forward. Tasyn's eyes widened as
pain seared his leg, then it crumpled. As the big pirate tilted to the
wounded side, the lieutenant slammed the side of his neck. Blood
pinwheeled into the sky and striped the lieutenant's blouse and vest.
Another pirate, a woman, attacked as the lieutenant dispatched her first
victim. The pirate squatted so low her hams brushed the deck, then she
stabbed upwards to spear the marine's groin. Fast as thought, the
lieutenant's blade spanked the pirate's cutlass so hard the tip bit the deck,
then the straight blade bounced back up. The female pirate saw the sword
tip fly for her face like an arrow, then the point pierced her eye and brain.

Ducking herself, using the dropped bodies as a barrier, the lieutenant
flicked her sword tip at pirates who suddenly hung back. She taunted,