"J. Robert King - Invasion Cycle 01 - Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (King Robert J)

glowed for a brilliant moment before going black. The
dragon engine's wings folded, and it plummeted away.
Two more engines soared up to take the place of the
first. They spat their own fire. It mantled the fore hull and
made wood instantly blaze.
Had Weatherlight been a ship of dead timbers, she would
have gone up like a jack straw. But Weatherlight lived. Her
hull was living wood, her Thran metal fittings grew, even
her engine was a vital organ, capable of agony and joy. The
silver golem attached to that engine served as a kind of
brain for the machine. Together the components of
Weatherlight made a powerful being, more than capable of
her own defense. Sap oozed from the living hull,
extinguishing the fire and salving the charred grains. The
port-side landing spine jutted suddenly, and the ship rolled.
The sharp metal spine lanced through the dragon engines,
slicing their chests. They veered off, falling through the
swarm of their comrades.


17
 Invasion

"Course locked in," reported Hanna. "A hundred miles
to the next portal ship."
"They're targeting the wings!" Sisay shouted in
warning.
The ship swooped to avoid a killing blast of breath.
Shots from Squee's cannon destroyed the offender.
Another dragon engine followed, unshakable.
Gerrard growled, "Karn, can we fly without wings?"
"Like a rocket, fast and fatal. It'll be almost impossible
to steer."
"Not for Sisay. Fold the wings. Rocket us to the next
portal." Gerrard expected a chorus of dissent. The others
were either inured to his requests or dumbstruck.
The wings folded, ratcheting inward on chains. For a
moment, Weatherlight lost lift. Then her intakes opened
wide, and her exhausts narrowed to blazing jets.
"Hold on!" Gerrard shouted.
It was futile. He could not be heard above the sudden
roar. Besides, anyone who was not strapped down or inside
the ship would have been blown from the deck.
Weatherlight rocketed away from the pursuing cloud of
dragon engines. Her exhaust vents painted the folded masts
vermilion. The afterburn lit the eyes of the metallic
serpents. They fell back, their jaws snapping on nothing.
As the yawing hull settled into its roaring course,
Gerrard let out a whoop. "Would you believe it? All the
time I spent running from my LegacyтАФif I'd known it was