"Dan Parkinson - Dwarven Nations 02 - Hammer and Axe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Parkinson Dan)

Conversation as the companions walked through the northern part of the Plains
was light-hearted and merry, filled with teasing and bantering and reminding
each other of the fun they had shared in earlier, happier days in Solace. No one
spoke of the dark and evil things they had seen in the recent past. It was as
if, in the contemplation of a brighter future, they willed these things never to
have existed.

At night, Elistan explained to them what he was learning o┬г the ancient gods
from the Disks of Mishakal, which he carried with him. His stories filled their
souls with peace and reinforced their faith. Even Tanis-who had spent a lifetime
searching for something to believe in and now that they had found it viewed it
with skepticism-felt deep in his soul that he could believe in this if he
believed in anything. He wanted to believe in it, but something held him back,
and every time he looked at Laurana, he knew what it was. Until he could resolve
his own inner turmoil, the raging division between the elven and human inside of
him, he would never know peace.

Only Raistlin did not share in the conversations, the merriment, the pranks and
jokes, the campfire talks. The mage spent his days studying his spellbook. If
interrupted, he would answer with a snarl. After dinner, of which he ate little,
he sat by himself, his eyes on the night sky, staring at the two gaping black
holes that were mirrored in the mage's black hourglassshaped pupils.

It was only after several days that spirits began to flag. The sun was obscured
by clouds and the wind blew chill from the north. Snow fell so thickly that one
day they could not travel at all but were forced to seek shelter in a cave until
the blizzard blew itself out. They set double watch at night, though no one
could say exactly why, only that they felt a growing sense of threat and menace.
Riverwind stared uneasily at the trail they left in the snow behind them. As
Flint said, a blind gully dwarf could follow it. The sense of menace grew, the
sense of eyes watching and ears listening.

Yet who could it be, out here in the Plains of Dust whew nothing and no one had
lived for three hundred years?

Chapter 2

Between master and dragon. Dismal journey.

The dragon sighed, flexed his huge wings, and lifted his ponderous body
from the warm, soothing maters of the hot springs. Ernerging from a billowing
cloud of vapor, he braced himself to step into the chill air. The clear winter
air stung his delicate nostrils and bit into his throat. Swallowing painfully,
he firmly resisted the temptation to return do the warm pools and began to climb
to the high rocky ledge above him.

The dragon stamped irritably upon rocks slick with ice from the hot springs'
vapor, which cooled almost instantly in thefreezing air. The stones cracked and
broke beneath his clawed feet, bounding and tumbling down into the valley below.