"E.E. Knight - The Age of fire 01 - Dragon champion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight E. E)

and dreaming, when sharp, cracking noises had woken him. He'd suddenly hated the enclosure in which
he'd floated for so Iong. Instinctively, he tried to uncurl his long neck. He had jerked his chin upward,
feeling the growth on his nose strike the inner surface of the hard cocoon. Three more taps, and the shell
had cracked.
The air relayed so many new impressions that his senses rebelled, and he gave a tiny snort.
He wiggled his nose and widened the hole. When he could get his snout well out and open his mouth, he
took a real breath. His long lungs, running almost the length of his back, filled entirely with air. Its zest, the
new sensation of his lungs inflating and deflating, invigorated him as much as the rich dose of oxygen to
his bloodstream. He pulled his head back, and the sawtooth on his still-wet nose opened the egg further.
Now he could get his head out.
The light, dim though it was, hurt his eyes. Scrabbling sounds and a deep, rhythmic whooshing above
roused his curiosity. Determined, he turned his head.
A presence, huge and green, lay curled around himтАФstrange yet
familiarтАФand beyond that, he sensed an even larger enclosure of
rock and shadow. Another casing, many-many times larger than the
first? Echoes played off the hard stone, chasing each other through
the great space.
He wriggled his head free. Now he could use his neck to look around. A nasty drop hung before him.
Many neck-lengths below, two shapes writhed; both had necks like his, with equally long tails projecting
out of their hindquarters. Identical in every aspect save color, they pushed and clawed at each other using
four stubby legs. Their mouths yawned agape, displaying sharp white teeth, and atop their snouts stood
sawtooths just like the one he'd used to poke his way out of his shell. Both the combatants had short
crests covering their necks. One of the hatchlings was a rich ruby color, and it sank its teeth into the
coppery opponent, rending flesh and muscle and eliciting a plaintive cry.
Something about those crests sweeping back from the armored ridge of their eyes and forehead put him
into a seething rage.
He longed to join this contest. He uncoiled his body; his fractured egg was no match for his new strength.
It separated, and he twisted over so he could crawl.
The crack of the egg opening interrupted the red hatchling in its triumph. It released its opponent's torn
foreleg and looked up. In the flick of an eye, it scuttled to the rock face and began to climb toward him.
He did not wait to meet it amongst the other eggs. He moved to the edge of the shelf to get it on the way
up, instinctively wanting the advantage of the high ground.
A wet slipperiness slowed him, and he looked down to see a sagging mass dragging from his belly. One
of his legs was caught in it. Frenzied, he tore at it with his rear limbs. He arched his back and parted from
the drogue. If he felt pain, the desire to get at the other crested hatchling smothered it. He gained the
edge just as the red's head appeared. Its shining slit-pupil eyes widened as it saw him come to push it
back down.
But the red was strong, stronger. It got its thick shoulders tucked under his narrower ones and muscled
over the edge of the precipice. They faced each other, mouths open and declaring battle with little
squawks of fury.
He forgot the cave, forgot the giant green presence behind him,
forgot the faint tapping emanating from the last two eggs. He went for the red crest, to shove it off the
ledge and put an end to it.
His bites scored at the red's armored skin and crest to no effect. Before he knew it, he was on his back,
the red's gapine jaws finding his throat. More frustrated than afraid, he clawed at the red's leathery
underbelly. A mist veiled his vision.
The pressure on his throat vanished. As his vision cleared, he saw Red fighting with the other crested
hatchling. His copper brother had somehow climbed the cavern wall to the egg shelf, intent on revenge
for its crippled limb. It rode Red's back, grasping at the back of Red's neck just under the armored crest.
He turned on his side, momentarily too weak to stand, and watched. Red writhed and rolled, trying to get