"Andrew J. Offutt - Cormac 05 - Sword of the Gael" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

and that it was from two high windows the keening shafts came. Ivarr and Guthrum
joined Wulfhere in standing, and strings thunked as they sent arrows into those same
windows.
Like runners in one of the races at the Great Fair of Eirrin, Cormac mac Art and
Knud the Swift went racing castle-ward. Knud ran straight , trusting to his
well-known speed afoot; Cormac wove a bit, for he was none so fleet of foot as the
leggy Dane to his left.
Brave or foolhardy, one of the defenders exposed himself to speed an arrow at
the Dane and, in a swift movement of hand to waist and back to bow, another at the
runner. Cormac felt the arrow strike his belt or the armour there. He grunted and
continued running. The castle rushed closer to him, while Wulfhere continued his
madmanтАЩs bellowingтАФand from ahead and above came a scream of horror and
pain.
Cormac grinned wolfishly. An arrow from Guthrum or Ivarr had paid the
defender for his temerity, then, and in steely coin!
Cormac mac Art reached the castle. Despite his efforts to slow his headlong
pace, he slammed a shoulder into the pillar. It was strangely white despite its age,
and iron hard. No more than a grunt escaped the Gael, who met KnudтАЩs eyes across
a distance of several feet. Knud was there first, naturally enough, and himself not
winded. Now the two found that the doorwayтАЩs width was full the length of a man.
Too, it was open. The door itself, massive and ironbound, hung by one huge
hinge-strap. It had been chopped well by several axes.
The defenders within did not belong here, Cormac reasoned, but had found this
prodigious keep the same as he and his companions, and had hacked and smashed
their way inside.
тАЬTheyтАЩve left the door open in welcome,тАЭ Knud said, showing the other man his
drawn steel.
тАЬShields low and sword ready and in, you to the left.тАЭ
They entered thus, in crouching movements that emanated from their toes, both
men poised to wheel, run, duck, or drop.
A blank wall of well-cut stone met them. To either side a stone stairway ran up
to a landing, turned, and vanished behind a wall. A nice way to greet invaders,
Cormac thought; were I on those steps and others entering, IтАЩd hold the place for a
day and a night and cover the steps with bodies and gore!
The two men exchanged a look. With a nod they went each to a separate
stairwell. Cormac went up cautiously, close-pressed to the inner wall, step after step
with sword out and ready. Knud, who was left-handed as well as fleet as a deer,
ascended the other stairway in the same manner.
At the landing, Cormac gathered himself and took a deep breath. He bounded all
the way across the platform, into the far corner. By the time he alighted there, his
eyes were turned upward and his shield covered his crouching body from
collarbones to crotch. HeтАЩd had experience with bow-men, and good ones, and
knew they seldom drove shaft at the more difficult target of head or throat, but at the
midsection or below; a man with an arrow through his leg was more likely than not
completely out of any fight.
But he was staring up an empty stairwell, and Knud had not been so clever.
Cormac heard him scream, but could not see the other landing. He soon saw the
Dane nevertheless, for he came bumping and rolling back down the stairs. An arrow
stood from his guts. He struck the floor face down, and a tent appeared in the back
of his mailcoat as the weight of his own limp body against the floor drove the arrow