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

"And we pledge our support to the dwarves if the war should come upon us!"
Elistan shouted.

Cheering resounded throughout the chamber, increasing as Thane Hornfel bent to
receive the Hammer.. The dwarves stamped and whistled, most climbing up on the
stone benches.
Tanis began to feel nauseated. He glanced around. They would never be missed.
Hornfel would speak; so would each of the other six Thanes, not to mention the
members of the Highseekers Council. The half-elf touched Sturm on the arm,
motioning to the knight to follow him. The two walked silently from the Hall,
bending low to get through a narrow archway. Although still underground in the
massive dwarven city, at least they were away from the noise, out in the cool
night air.

"Are you all right?" Sturm asked, noticing Tanis's pallor beneath his beard. The
half-elf gulped draughts of cool air.

"I am now;" Tanis said, flushing in shame at his weakness. "It was the heat . .
. and the noise:"

"Well, we'll be out of here soon;' Sturm said. 'Depending, of course, on whether
or not the Council of Highseekers votes to let us go to Tarsis:'

"Oh, there's no doubt how they'll vote;" Tanis said, shrugging. "Elistan is
clearly in control, now that he's led the people to a place of safety. None of
the Highseekers dares oppose him-at least to his face. No, my friend, within a
month's time perhaps, we'll be setting sail in one of the white-winged ships of
Tarsis the Beautiful:'
"Without the Hammer of Kharas," Sturm added bitterly. Softly, he began to quote.
" 'And so if was told that the Knights took the golden Hammer, the Hammer
blessed 6y the great god Paladine and given to the One of the Silver Arm so that
he might forge the Dragonlance of Huma, Dragonbane, and gave the Hammer to the
dwarf they called Kharas, or Knight, for his extraordinary valor and honor in
battle. And he kept Kharas for his name. And the Hammer of Kharas passed into
the dwarven kingdom with assurances from the dwarves that it should be brought
forth again at need-"

"It has been brought forth;' Tanis said, straggling to contain his rising anger.
He had heard that quotation entirely too many times!

"II has been brought forth and will be left behind!" Sturm bit the words. "We
might have taken it to Solamnia, used it to forge our own dragonlances

"And you would be another Huma, riding to glory, the Dragonlance in your hand!"
Tanis's control snapped. "Meanwhile you'd let eight hundred people die-"

"No, I would not have let them die!" Sturm shouted in a towering rage. "The
first clue we have to the dragonlances and you sell it for-"