"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 07 - A Wizard In Midgard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

as he fell, he realized that one of the hunters was a man of true courage who
hadn't let his fear stop him. Then midnight claimed him.
In the darkness, one single thought rose: that he should have realized the depth
of these people's hatred for anyone bigger than themselves. The thought brought
a dream of memory, of watching from above as a double rank of Vikings bellowed
their battle cry and charged a row of giants, four of them to each titan. The
giants met them with roars and quarterstaves-steel quarterstaves, to judge by
the way the Vikings' axes and swords glanced off them.
The giants fought back to back, staves whirling as they fended off blows from
three sides at once, striking downward at men only two-thirds their height. The
Vikings used their size to advantage, though, leaping in under the giants'
guards to slash and chop at their legs. Here and there, a giant went down, and
the Vikings leaped in to butcher him quickly before other giants could come to
his rescue-which they did, for those steel quarterstaves cracked the Vikings'
helmets and drove their blades back against their own bodies.
Suddenly it was over, and the Vikings were leaping away, retreating back to
their own side, forming a ragged line that turned and fled. One or two giants
roared and started after them, but their mates caught them and pulled them back.
Watching them on his viewscreen, Magnus guessed, "The giants have fallen for
that trick before-chased the Vikings to their own doom."
"No doubt," said a voice from thin air-or from the concealed loudspeakers in the
spaceship's lounge. "I suspect the Vikings led them into swamps, where they
floundered, easy prey for spears and arrows."
"Or led them under trees thick with spearmen." Magnus nodded. "The giants have
learned their lesson. They're holding their line."
On the viewscreen, the giants were indeed standing firm, breathing hard and
waiting for the smaller men to come back. Their mouths moved as they called to
one another, but of course Magnus couldn't hear what they were saying. "I wonder
if they're speaking Terran Standard."
"We can send down a probe with an audio pickup," the voice offered.
"Now, Herkimer," Magnus reproved, "you know I'm not rich."
Herkimer was the name he had given his ship's computer and, therefore, the ship
itself. It navigated and operated the vessel, monitored his life support
systems, cooked his meals, cleaned the ship, and to top it off, dredged up an
amazing variety of facts from its vast memory.
"I'm happy enough with pictures," Magnus told the computer. "In fact, I'm amazed
the electronic telescope can zoom in tightly enough to show a close-up of a
human face from an orbit twenty thousand miles above the planet's surface."
The world was listed by the name of "Siegfried" in the atlas of colonized stars.
That alone had been enough to send Magnus to searching it out. There had been a
record of a colonizing expedition and the general direction in which they
intended to search for a habitable home, but none of where they had landed or
whether they had survived. It had been an interesting search.
"It is impressive." Being a computer, Herkimer couldn't really be impressed by
anything. "But a microphone that could reach so far is completely out of the
question."
"No need, when all we're trying to do is gain an overview of the situation."
The giants waited a long time as the Vikings retreated, step by step. Even when
they were out of sight, half the giants stayed on guard. The other half turned
to tend the wounded.