"Mel Odom - Forgotten Realms - Threat from the Sea Trilogy 02 - Under Fallen Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Odom Mel)

"Khorrch," a man bellowed.
The morkoth turned and gazed up to the ship's stern castle. "Yes, Vurgrom," it replied in the human
tongue.
Flyys spoke the language himself. Everyone who traded in Seros learned the human tongue. With
the enmity that existed between the undersea cultures at times over Seros's long past, it proved to be as
common a tongue below the waves as above it. He also recognized the name.
Vurgrom the Mighty was chief of the pirates among the surface world. He was also the man Flyys
and his companions had been sent to spy on. Though Vurgrom hadn't been on board the ship they'd
invaded during the night, his minions had been.
"This is one of them?" Vurgrom walked down the steps leading up to the stern castle. He stood tall
and broad, with a huge chest that sloped down to a massive stomach. Still, he moved lightly enough on
the ship's rolling deck that Flyys knew the bulk would throw off most of his opponents. Vurgrom's
reputation was fierce and savage, built on the number of deaths he'd ordered over the years. Many of
them he'd taken part in himself.
"Yes," Khorrch answered.
The wind stirred the wild red hair on the pirate captain's head, ruffled the long, untamed beard. He
stopped in front of Flyys. "He knows where the Eye is?"
The young triton tried not to let the fear inside him show, but he knew that the morkoth mage and
the pirate captain both sensed it in him. He swallowed hard, feeling his mouth and throat dry as his gills
sucked in air instead of liquid.
"I believe he does," Khorrch said. "When the Taker was banished all those thousands of years ago
by Umberlee, stories and tales of him were passed among those who lived in the sea. No one race got
everything, and each was given something to protect-something that would keep the Taker from regaining
his full strength. Our legends of the Taker tell us the longmanes were given some of the secrets of the
Taker's missing Eye."
Flyys struggled against the ropes that held him but still didn't find any slack. Though he was not a
great believer in the menace that the Taker represented-primarily because the evil his people guarded
against was even larger-he preferred death to talking.
" 'Some of the secrets'?" Vurgrom repeated irritably. "I thought they knew what we needed to find
out."
The morkoth drew itself up to its full height on its six tentacles, but it still didn't stand as tall as the
pirate captain. "They know where it is," Khorrch declared. "Without it, all the things we've gathered here
in the Sea of Fallen Stars will be useless."
Vurgrom switched his glare back to Flyys. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell us on your own,
would you, boy?"
Flyys wanted to answer but he didn't trust his voice. He felt certain it would crack and shake.
Vurgrom smiled, sunlight dancing from the gold hoops in his ears. "We could let you stay out here
and dry out, boy." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "I got lads here wouldn't mind betting on how
long it takes till your skin starts to peel off. Maybe we could even hang you out on the prow. The gulls,
they get scent of you, they'd be down for a little snack."
Despite his best efforts not to, Flyys shivered at the prospect. He knew he wouldn't be the first
triton to be treated in that fashion. However, it was preferable to being ripped apart by the morkoth.
"Time is of the essence," Khorrch stated.
Vurgrom crossed his huge arms over his barrel chest and said, "Aye, I know. Iakhovas is a harsh
taskmaster."
"But his rewards are good," Khorrch pointed out.
Vurgrom smiled, a rictus of humor that belonged on a shark's mouth. "Get it done, then."
Expecting the morkoth to use its hypnotic powers or perhaps magically command him to speak,
Flyys closed his eyes and prayed to Persana to deliver him from his fate quickly. One way or the other.
Khorrch spoke words of power that started small fires under Flyys's skin. The young triton's eyes