"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Legends 03 - Test Of The Twins" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

landscape before him. The rather interesting kender logic behind this being that since it was likely
that some kender in Tasslehoff's family had undoubtedly been to this place before, the memory was
somehow passed on to his or her descendants. While this was never scientifically verified (the
gnomes are working on it, having referred it to committee), it certainly is true that-to this day-no
kender has ever been reported lost on Krynn.
At any rate, Tas, standing shin-deep in mud, closed his eyes and tried to conjure up a picture of his
surroundings. One came to him, so vivid in its clarity that he was rather startled-certainly his
ancestors' mental maps had never been so perfect. There were trees-giant trees-there were
mountains on the horizon, there was a lake....
Opening his eyes, Tas gasped. There was a lake! He hadn't noticed it before, probably because it
was the same gray, sludge color as the ash-covered ground. Was there water there, still? Or was it
filled with mud?
I wonder, Tas mused, if Uncle Trapspringer ever visited a moon. If so, that would account for the
fact that I recognize this place. But surely he would have told someone.... Perhaps he would have if
the goblins hadn't eaten him before he had the chance. Speaking of food, that reminds me ...
"Caramon," Tas shouted over the rising wind and the boom of the thunder. "Did you bring along
any water? I didn't. Nor any food, either. I didn't suppose we'd need any, what with going back
home and all. But-"
Tas suddenly saw something that drove thoughts of food and water and Uncle Trapspringer from
his mind.
"Oh, Caramon!" Tas clutched at the big warrior, pointing. "Look, do you suppose that's the sun?"
"What else would it be?" Caramon snapped gruffly, his gaze on a watery, greenish-yellow disk that
had appeared through a rift in the storm clouds. "And, no, I didn't bring any water. So just keep
quiet about it, huh?"
"Well, you needn't be ru-" Tas began. Then he saw Caramon s face and quickly hushed.
They had come to a halt, slipping in the mud, halfway down the trail. The hot wind blew about
them, sending Tas's topknot streaming out from his head like a banner and whipping Caramon's
cloak out. The big warrior was staring at the lake-the same lake Tas had noticed. Caramon's face
was pale, his eyes troubled. After a moment, he began walking again, trudging grimly down the
trail. With a sigh, Tas squished along after him. He had reached a decision.
"Caramon," he said, "let's get out of here. Let's leave this place. Even if it is a moon like Uncle
Trapspringer must have visited before the goblins ate him, it isn't much fun. The moon, I mean, not
being eaten by goblins which I suppose wouldn't be much fun either, come to think of it. To tell
you the truth, this moon's just about as boring as the Abyss and it certainly smells as bad. Besides,
there I wasn't thirsty. . . . Not that I'm thirsty now," he added hastily, remembering too late that he
wasn't supposed to talk about it, "but my tongue's sort of dried out, if you know what I mean, which
makes it hard to talk. We've got the magical device." He held the jewel encrusted sceptre-shaped
object up in his hand, just in case Caramon had forgotten in the last half-hour what it looked like.
"And I promise ... I solemnly vow ... that I'll think of Solace with all my brain this time, Caramon.
I-Caramon?"
"Hush, Tas," Caramon said.
They had reached the valley floor, where the mud was ankle-deep on Caramon, which made it
about shin-deep on
Tas. Caramon had begun to limp again from when he'd fallen and wrenched his knee back in the
magical fortress of Zhaman. Now, in addition to worry, there was a look of pain on his face.
There was another look, too. A look that made Tas feel all prickly inside-a look of true fear. Tas,
startled, glanced about quickly, wondering what Caramon saw. It seemed pretty much the same at
the bottom as it had at the top, he thought-gray and yucky and horrible. Nothing had changed,
except that it was growing darker. The storm clouds had obliterated the sun again, rather to Tas's
relief, since it was an unwholesome-looking sun that made the bleak, gray landscape appear worse