"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Deathgate Cycle 7 - The Seventh Gate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

"Damn!" Hugh the Hand muttered. "The very sound of the thing makes me want to piss my pants.
Is it talking to Alfred, do you think?"

Marit nodded. Her lips compressed to a thin line. She knew what she had to do; she only wanted
the courage to do it. Rubbing her burning arm, the sigla flaring red and blue, she ignored their
warning and began creeping forward toward the voice, using its rumbling as cover for her own
movement through the brush. Hugh the Hand followed her.

They were downwind of the dragon. It shouldn't be able to pick up their scent. Marit only wanted to
get the creature in sight, to see if it had truly captured Alfred. If notтАФand she was hoping
desperately it had notтАФthen she could follow common sense and run.

No shame in running from such a powerful foe. Lord Xar was the only Patryn Marit had ever
known who had fought a Labyrinth dragon and survived. And he never spoke of the battle; his face
would darken whenever it was mentioned.

"The ancestors have mercy!" Hugh the Hand breathed.

Marit squeezed Hugh's hand, cautioned him to keep quiet.

They could see the dragon easily now. Marit's hope was dashed.

Standing propped up against the bole of a shattered tree was a tall and gangling man with a bald
headтАФ smeared with bloodтАФdressed in the tattered remnants of what had once been breeches and
a velvet frock coat. He had been in dragon form when they saw him during the battle. CertainlyтАФ
by the destruction in the forestтАФ he must have been in dragon form when he crashed headlong into
the woods.
He was not in dragon form now. Either he was too weak to sustain the magical transformation or,
perhaps, his enemy had used its own magic to reveal the Sartan's true appearance.

Surprisingly, considering that his first reaction to any sort of danger was to faint dead away, Alfred
was conscious. He was even managing to face this terrible foe with a certain amount of dignity,
though this was rather impaired by the fact that he was nursing a broken arm and his face was gray
and drawn with pain.

The dragon towered over its prey. Its head was huge, blunt-nosed and rounded, with rows of razor-
sharp teeth protruding from the lower jaw. The head was attached to a neck that seemed too thin to
support it. The head swung back and forthтАФsuch constant oscillating motion could sometimes
hypnotize hapless victims. Two small and cunning eyes, on either side of the head, moved
independently of each other. The eyes could rotate in any direction, focus forward or backward as
required, allowing the dragon to see everything around it.

Its two front legs were strong and powerful, with claw-like "hands," which could lift and carry
objects in flight. Enormous wings sprouted from the shoulders. The hind legs were muscular, used
to push the dragon off the ground and into the air.

The tail was the deadliest part of the creature, however. The red dragon's tail curled up and over the
body. On the end was a bulbous stinger that injected venom into the victim, venom that could either
kill or, in small doses, paralyze.