"Simon R. Green - Forest Kingdom 3 - Down Among the Dead Men" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

Silence Carved in Stone.



Duncan MacNeil reined in his horse and looked around him. Narrow shafts

of golden sunlight pierced theForestgloom, shining down through the

occasional gaps in the overhead canopy. Tall trees stood close together

on either side of the beaten trail, their branches heavy with the

Summer's greenery. The hot, muggy air was thick with the scent of earth

and leaf and bark. A handful of birds sang in the higher branches,

warning the creatures of the wild that man was moving through the

Forest.



MacNeil stirred impatiently in his saddle. After two weeks' hard

travelling, the Forest's charms had begun to pall. In fact, MacNeil was

beginning to think he could live quite happily if he never saw another

tree. He glanced back down the trail, but there was still no sign of the

rest of his party. MacNeil scowled. He hated being kept waiting. He

looked at the trail ahead, but the tightly packed trees cut short his

view. MacNeil signalled his horse to move on again at a slow pace. The

border fort couldn't be far ahead now, and he was itching to take his

first look at it.



The Forest moved slowly by him, his horse's steady muffled hoofbeats

sounding loud and clear on the quiet. The birds slowly stopped singing,

and no game moved in the surrounding shadows. MacNeil dropped one hand
to the sword at his side, and eased the blade in its scabbard.