"Paul Thompson - [Elven Nations Trilogy 2] - The Kinslaye" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thompson Paul B)

Another figure moved through the trees, bringing the bodyguards' swords swooshing
forth, until they recognized the rider.
"Sergeant-Major Parnigar." Kith-Kanan nodded to the veteran Wildrunner, his chief
aide and most reliable scout. The sergeant was dressed in leather armor of green and
brown, and he rode a stocky, nimble pony.
"The companies are in place, sirтАУthe riders behind the ridge, with a thousand elves of
Silvanost bearing pike behind them." Parnigar, a veteran warrior who had fought in the
Second Dragon War, had helped recruit the first wild elves into Kith-Kanan's force. Now
he reported on their readiness to die for that cause. "The Kagonesti archers are well
hidden and well supplied. We can only hope the humans react as we desire."
Parnigar looked skeptical as he spoke, but Kith suspected this was just the elf's
cautious nature. The sergeant's face was as gray and leathery as an old map. His strapping
arms rested on the pommel of his saddle with deceptive ease. His green eyes missed
nothing. Even as he talked to his general, the sergeant-major was scanning the horizon.
Parnigar slouched casually in his saddle, his posture more like a human's than an
elf's. Indeed, the veteran had taken a human wife some years before, and in many ways
he seemed to enjoy the company of the short-lived race. He spoke quickly and moved
with a certain restless agitationтАУboth characteristics that tended to mark humans far more
typically than elves.
Yet Parnigar knew his roots. He was an heir of the House Protectorate and had
served in the Wildrunners since he had first learned to handle a sword. He was the most
capable warrior that Kith-Kanan knew, and the elven general was glad to have him at his
side.
"The human scouts have been slain by ambush," KithKanan told him. "Their army
has lost its eyes. It is almost time. Come, ride with me."
The commander of the Wildrunners nudged Kijo's flanks with his knees, and the
stallion exploded into a dash through the forest. So nimble was the horse's step that he
dashed around tree trunks with Kith-Kanan virtually a blur. Parnigar raced behind, with
the two hapless guards spurring their steeds in a losing struggle to keep pace.
For several minutes, the pair dashed through the forest, the riders' faces lashed by
pine needles, but the horses' hooves landing true. Abruptly the trees stopped, exposing
the wide, gently rolling ridgetop. Below, to the right, marched the endless army of
humankind.
Kith-Kanan nudged Kijo again, and the stallion burst into view of the humans below.
The elven general's blond hair trailed in the sun behind him, for his helmet remained
lashed to the back of his saddle. As he rode, he raised a steel-mailed fist.
He made a grand figure, racing along the crest of the hill above the teeming mass of
his enemy. Like his twin brother Sithas, his face was handsome and proud, with
prominent cheekbones and a sharp, strong chin. Though he was slenderтАУlike every one of
his raceтАУhis tall physique lifted him above the deep pommels of the saddle.
Instantly the trumpeters of Silvanost sprang to their feet. They had lain in the grass
along this portion of the crest. Raising their golden horns in unison, they brayed a challenge
across the rolling prairie below. Behind the trumpeters, concealed from the humans
by the crest of the ridge, the elven riders mounted their horses while the bowmen knelt in
the tall grass, waiting for the command to action.
The great column of humans staggered like a confused centipede. Men turned to
gape at the spectacle, observing pennants and banners that burst from the woods in a riotous
display of color. All order vanished from the march as each soldier instinctively
yielded to astonishment and the beginnings of fear.
Then the human army gasped, for the elven riders abruptly swarmed over the