"Mel Odom - Forgotten Realms - Threat from the Sea Trilogy 03 - The Sea Devils" - читать интересную книгу автора (Odom Mel)

underwater, it didn't remove the harsh metallic taste of iron.
In the land engagements he'd witnessed, Pacys had smelled the stench of battle, spiced by the fear
and anger of the men and women who sold and bought lives with a sword stroke. But here, in the
underwater realm of Seros, the kingdoms scattered across the bottom of the Sea of Fallen Stars, death
had flavor.
Pacys steeled himself, gaining control over his lurching stomach. Bright blue light flared like a dying
star to Pacys's left. The old bard turned and spotted Taranath Reefglamor, Senior High Mage among the
High Mages at Sylkiir. The old elf mage wore his silver hair loose. Blade thin, his blue and white flecked
skin hung loose on him. The pointed chin and pointed ears made his face seem harsh and angular. He
thrust a hand out at a knot of a dozen nearby sahuagin that swam toward them.
In the blink of an eye, shark's teeth seemed to form in that part of the water. The teeth were etched
in silvery gleams, bare sketches that still left no doubt as to what they were.
The cone of shark's teeth grew to twice Pacys's height in width and nearly five times that in length.
The sorcery ripped through the sahuagin, shredding flesh and breaking bone. Severed limbs and heads
exploded out from the corpses, and mutilated torsos came apart in chunks.
Surviving sahuagin swam at them, clutching their tridents to their chests. Fangs filled their broad
mouths to overflowing, showing bone-white and ivory against the teal and pale green of their skins. Fins
stuck out from their arms and legs, sharp-edged appendages they used to slice open their prey.
Built broad and squat, hammered into near indestructibility by the pressure of the uncaring ocean,
the sahuagin moved gracefully through the water. Webbed feet and hands pulled at the sea. Their
magnetic black eyes sucked the light from the depths, black holes that held no mercy.
Pacys brought his staff up. There wasn't time to run.
"Die hu-maan!" the lead sahuagin snarled.
"Friend Pacys!" Khlinat cried.
From the corner of his eye, Pacys watched the dwarf struggling to swim through the water to reach
his side. They'd met in Baldur's Gate, at the time of the attack that destroyed the city's harbor, and they'd
remained together since.
Pacys struck with the staff, lodging it in the tines of the trident his opponent carried. The old bard
pushed away from the attack.
The sahuagin flew past him, streaking toward the dwarf who was clawing up to an even keel.
Pacys reached into the bag of holding at his waist, took out a piece of slate and a fingernail clipping,
and held them in his fist.
Pointing with the forefinger of the fist that held the ingredients to his spell, Pacys scribed a powerful
symbol in the water that flared pale violet for a moment. He mouthed half a dozen words, then felt the
explosion in his fist as the spell claimed the materials in his hand.
Gray ash spilled from his hand as a shimmering wall formed in the water before him. A dull roar
blasted out from the other side of the shimmering wall.
The sahuagin trapped there writhed in agony. The sahuagin, like many sea creatures, had lateral lines
that ran the length of their bodies. Those lines sensed vibrations in the water, and the roar was agony to
them.
Pacys swam for Khlinat.
"Foul devilspawn," Khlinat roared in a voice only a dwarf in full battle frenzy could muster. "I'll
keelhaul ye and have yer guts for garters, I will. I'm one of the Iron-eater clan, one of the fiercest,
fightingest dwarven clans ever blessed by Marthammor Duin!"
"Die!" the sahuagin replied in its raspy voice.
The bard gripped his staff in the middle and twisted. Foot-long, razor-edged blades shot from both
ends.
The sahuagin released its hold on Khlinat's hand axe, then ran its talons down the dwarfs arm.
Yelping with pain and surprise, Khlinat brought his knees up, then shoved his claw coral peg into the
sahuagin's chest. The peg burst through the sahuagin's back. Blood roiled out and settled in a cloud