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

Everything seemed peaceful but he didn't believe in taking unnecessary

chances. His gaze fell on a clump of dead trees to his left. They were

twisted and hollow, eaten away from within by decay. The gnarled

branches were bare, the bark mottled with lichens. Even after ten years

there were still parts of the Forest that had never recovered from the

long night.



The trees fell suddenly away to either side of him, and MacNeil jerked

his horse to a halt at the edge of a clearing.



He leaned forward in his saddle, shading his watering eyes against the

bright sunlight, and smiled slowly. Square in the middle of the huge

clearing stood the border fort, a vast stone edifice with two massive

ironbound doors and only a series of arrowslits for windows. MacNeil

looked the fort over carefully. The two doors were firmly shut, and

there was no trace of movement anywhere in or around the fort.



The great stone walls brooded silently and enigmatically in the late

afternoon sunshine.



MacNeil sat back in his saddle and frowned thoughtfully.



There were no guards at the doors, and no one walked the high

battlements. There were no flags flying, no pennants at the watchtowers,
and no smoke curled up from the dozen or more chimneypots.