"Mithgar - Hel's Crucible - 02 - Into The Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKiernan Dennis L)

Believing a Kingsman's mission more important than a wee Warrow joining the muster at Beacontor, Tip decided to take the coin east to Agron, whoever or whatever it might be.

Beau chose to join Tip on the journey, and they set out eastward and within the week entered Drearwood, a dismal and forbidding place. On the very first night in that dreadful forest they saw a great Horde of Foul Folk marching to the west.

On the second day, as darkness fell, a freezing rain began, and it lasted all night; when daylight came, Drear-wood was sheathed in ice. Slipping and sliding, they pushed on, making little progress on the thick glaze. In the night there was an attack on their camp by a huge monster only half-seen in the dark: the ponies were killed, but Tip and Beau managed to escape.

Afoot, they attempted to sneak through the rest of Drearwood, and more than once they barely escaped discovery by searching bands of Foul Folk.

Weary and hungry beyond measure, as they reached the far fringes of Drearwood they were ambushed and captured, but it was by a band of Lian Guardians, Elven warriors, led by Vanidor.

Vanidor told them that Agron was the king of Aven, a realm beyond the Grimwall Mountains. Vanidor assigned an Elf named Loric to take them to the Lian strongholt of Arden Vale, where they could tell Lord Talarin of the things they'd seen.

Upon reaching Arden Vale, Talarin and other Elves told . the Warrows that Modru, a powerful Black Mage in Gron, j had been gathering Foul Folk: they were pouring across the "in-between," coming into Mithgar on the Middle Plane from Neddra on the Lower. It was also rumored that Modru wooed Dragons to his cause.

Talarin assigned Loric and a female Lian, Phais, to accompany the Warrows to Dendor, the capital city of Aven.: But it was yet winter, and so they waited for the spring thaw to clear the way through the Grimwall Mountains.

On Springday, Eloran, a Dylvana Elf, arrived from Adonar to report that Adon had sundered the in-between way; from Neddra to Mithgar. Eloran also confirmed that Modru of Gron had indeed started a wide war, and that High King Blaine was calling for an alliance of men, Elves, Dwarves,! and Mages to fight this great threat.

The Elves blamed the evil god Gyphon for this war, saying that Modru was but His servant, and if Modru conquered Mithgar, then Gyphon would displace Adon as the master of all creation.

During these discussions, Talarin's consort, Rael, a seer-ess, in a trance spoke a rede: "Seek the aid of those not men to quench the fires of war . . ." No one knew just who "those not men" were, or who the rede was meant for.

The spring thaw finally came, but before Tip and Beau and Phais and Loric could embark on their mission, a scout brought word that Crestan Pass was held by the Spawn. And so the four set out for Aven along one of their alternate routes, one that would add miles and months to their journey.

South through Rell they went, aiming for the pass at Stormhelm, one of the four mountains of the Quadran under which the Dwarvenholt of Drimmen-deeve was carved. Yet when they arrived they came upon a battle between the Dwarves of Drimmen-deeve and the Foul Folk. During the battle, Skail of the Barrens, a renegade Drake, came swooping down spouting fire and drove the Dwarves back into Drimmen-deeve.

With all ways cut off over the Quadran and under as well, the foursome rode on south, along yet another alternate way, one that was even longer.

In Gunar they encountered a squad of Dwarves and were told that Gunarring Gap was occupied by a Horde, hence that route was blocked to them.

To keep the foursome from needing to go on an even longer route, the Dwarves revealed a secret path across the Gunarring: the Walkover, so named because of a low tunnel along the way, where only people afoot and small ponies could pass through.

Giving up their horses, the four crossed on foot, and when they came down into the realm of Valon, there too was war, for smoke from a burning town rose into the sky.

Battling storms and avoiding detection, they made their way northeastward, heading across the Plains of Valon for the Elven strongholt of Darda Galion, some several hundred miles away, but as they drew near their goal they were discovered.

They were yet some forty-five miles from safety, and they made a run for it. The foursome was saved at the last moment by a squad of Lian Elves who saw the pursuit from their encampment atop the Great Escarpment and came in rescue.

Several days later the foursome reached Wood's-heart, the Elven stronghold central to Darda Galion. There they found the Lian preparing to go to the aid of the besieged Drimmen-deeve folk.

Although they would have liked to aid in this mission, the four felt it necessary to proceed on to Aven and deliver the coin.

Once again ahorse, the four headed for Caer Lindor, a fortress on the River Rissanin, garrisoned by Lian and Dyl-vana Elves and by Greatwood Baeron.

In Caer Lindor they found a company of Warrow archers whose village of Springwater had been destroyed by the Foul Folk. Among these Warrows, Tip met Rynna Fenrush, leader of the band, but even though he fell desperately in love with her, and she with him, he had a mission to fulfill and so did she.

A Horde was still roaming along the eastern boundaries of Darda Erynian, and to avoid this Swarm, Tip, Beau, Phais, and Loric decided to push on for Aven by going north through Darda Erynian. On the day the four prepared to set out, a group of Rivermen came to the fortress and asked for sanctuary. Neither Tip nor Rynna liked the look of these men, for something just didn't seem right. But Tip had to go on his mission to deliver the coin, and Rynna had to stay behind to captain the Warrows, and so the lovers parted.

Tip, Beau, Loric, and Phais eventually came to Bircehyll, the Dylvana strongholt in Darda Erynian. While the rested, word came via the Groaning Stones and the fox-riding Pysks that Caer Lindor had fallen and all Warrows had been killed in the fight. This news devastated Tip.