"John Ringo - Council War 4 - East of the Sun, West of the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

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Prologue

Orc Private Tur-uck was having a bad day. It had started by being left in the camp to guard the baggage
and had only gotten worse when the humans counter-attacked and took the portals. He slammed his
shield into the human pussy and drove him back, striking hard with his broad, curved sword. The blow
slipped past the humans' defenses and blood flew from a deep gash that gaped like a bloody grin. Then
the orc stabbed back in a blinding reverse and drove the sword into the human's throat, ripping it out in a
welter of gore.

"The doors!" Sub-leader Grath bellowed. "Forget the humans! Get the doors up!"

Tur-uck sheathed his sword and dropped his shield, sliding his fingers under the edge of the fallen
doorway. The portals, until the humans had taken them, had been spilling out the victorious hordes of the
Masters. None could stop the Horde, it was victorious in every battle. Except, a quiet voice suggested,
this one. The humans had appeared from their own doorways and were knocking down the doors of the
Masters, and the Horde, blindly obeying orders, was dashing out of the camp, leaving it to the human
invaders.

The doorway was heavy and the attack had cost Grath's group many lives. Lives were nothing, they
were to be spilled for the Masters. But they had barely enough to lift the portal to the level of Grath's
knees, much less set it back upright. It was heavy metal with a concrete base and no matter how they
struggled they could not get it more than a meter off the ground.

Tur-uck suddenly let go and dropped to his hands and knees, scuttling under the doorway.

"Come back here, you coward!" Grath shouted, his voice made guttural by the Changes to his throat
and the large canine tusks in his mouth.
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"I'm going to get help!" Tur-uck shouted, but he knew he was too late. Already more of the humans
were charging Grath's remaining orcs and from the far side there would be no way to raise the doorway.

Tur-uck jumped upward, exiting the portal near its top and falling through the air without a cry to thump
to the ground on the far side. His ears were immediately assaulted by the blessed sound of thousands of
orcs, angrily balked by the fallen doorways. One of them kicked him as he rolled across the ground, but
that was more in the way of a greeting than in anger. It was simple courtesy to kick someone when they
were down.

"You!" one of the lesser Masters shouted, striding forward and waving back the orcs that were gathered
around the mirror-like portal. "Where did you come from? What in the hell is happening?"

"Master!" Tur-uck groveled, rolling to his hands and knees and bowing his head. "The humans have