"Marco,.John.-.Tyrants.And.Kings.2.-.Grand.Design" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marco John)

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ONE
The Light of God



T he night burned a pulsing orange.

General Vorto, supreme commander of the legions of Nar, stood
on a hillside beneath the red flash of rockets, safely distant from
the bombardment hammering the walls of Goth. It was a cold night
with frost in the air. He could see the crystalline snow in the sky and
on his eyelashes. The northern gusts blew the battle rockets up
and over the city and bent the fiery plumes of flame cannons.
Goth's tall walls glowed a molten amber at its weakest parts, and in
the city's center small fires smoldered, the result of lucky rocket
shots. Gothan archers rimmed the catwalks and battlements,
raining down arrows on the thousand legionnaires encircling the
city. High in the hills, rocket launchers sent off their missiles, while
on the ground war wagons lumbered on their metal tracks, grinding
the earth to pulp. Inside the iron tanks, teams of gunners pumped
kerosene fuel into the needle-noses of flame cannons and blasted
away at the unyielding stone of Goth.

The war machines of Nar were at work.

General Vorto pulled off a gauntlet and tested the wind with a
finger. Southeasterly and strong, he determined. Too damn strong.
A curse sprang to his lips as he pulled his metal glove back on. So
far, the Walled City didn't seem to be softening from his attack, nor
had the winds abated to cooperate. It had only been a few hours
since he'd begun his attack but he was already growing
impatientЧnot a good trait for a general. He ground his teeth
together in frustration, and watched as the city of Goth withstood all
he could throw against it.

"Resist, then," he grumbled. "Soon we will have the ram in place."

Nearby on the hillside, the gunners of a modified acid launcher
awaited their general's orders. They had loaded the first cannister
of Formula B hours ago, when they'd first arrived around the city.
Vorto had hoped the wind might cooperate, but the breeze had
picked up and so the order to fire had never come. There were five
more such launchers in the hills around Goth, all primed like this