"Paul Kidd - Queen of the Demonweb Pits" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kidd Paul)

The elf rolled to look at his apprentice and raised one brow. "And we know this how?"

"It smells wrong."

"What? Have you become part man, part hell hound?" Recca slid an amused sidewise glance at his
apprentice. "The problem with humans is that they cannot accept being clever! There is a superiority that
comes with intelligence and training. I have trained you superbly. Every movement you make is properly
honed." Recca smiled. "RememberтАФevil may have cunning, but it never has wit or style."

If the apprentice had been a bear, he would have growled. The big man made to speak, but Recca had
already slithered back down from the ridge to give orders to his men.

They collected there under coverтАФpainted men, camouflaged and almost invisible. Eleven of them sat
and listened, trusting their leader to give shape to their lives. Recca looked about the empty wilderness
and filled his mind with images of his victoryтАФ his glory.

"They're coming! More Iuz vermin to kill! A general, and without an escort in sight!" The elven warlord
infected his men with his confidence. "We'll slaughter a general!"

An Iuz general. The only demonic warlord to be slain in this war, and his head would fall to Recca!
Recca parted the weeds and showed his men his plan for victory.

"They're fortifying this valley. That means their army is coming, so we must work fast." Recca looked the
scene over with all the care of a true artist at work. "They'll survey this ridge. This is the obvious point to
use as the crest of their line. So we hide, and when the general comes, we fight. I want you all to attack
the workers in one group. This will draw attention to your position. I will then slay their general. We flee
down the gully, here into the trees, so lay traps to kill the pursuitтАФusual mix. Rendezvous at broken pine
an hour after dusk." He slapped his men on the shoulders and bade them go. "Good hunting!"

The apprentice did not leave. He hovered, huge and unsmiling, beside his teacher. He never smiled, never
laughed, and never tired. His sword jutted through his belt, always poised for a lightning-draw.

"I will cover your back. Master Recca."

"I do not need you." The elf rested one hand languidly on his swordтАФthe black sword of the
swordmaster of the elves. "My blade and I have work to do."

The apprentice was unmoved. "Then I will make sure you are free to do it."

The apprentice led the way into the best possible coverтАФnot the obvious place to hide, it was a place in
which only a ranger could disappear. He used his sword to slit a thin carpet of the dead, dry grass, and
he slid beneath it, disappearing totally from view. Unwilling to follow a mere student's lead, Recca stood
proud and alone on the hilltop until prudence dictated that he hide at last.

Soon, shambling footfalls sounded on the turf. The undead servants came to build their masters wall.
With them came their overlordsтАФa general, his scribes, and advisorsтАФall feeling perfectly safe so far
behind their lines. Soon the sounds of the attack cameтАФrangers' war cries and the sounds of spells.
Recca saw his target standing and staring at the commotion. The elf rose in silence, sliding forward to
strike from behindтАФ