"Margeret Weis & Don Perrin - Dragonlance - The Chaos War 01 - The Doom Brigade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

"What the hell's going on?" Kang bellowed. "Is it the Golden General?"
The draconian stared, lost in such amazement that he forgot to salute. "Golden
General? Begging your pardon, sir, but we haven't fought the Golden General in
twenty-five years! It's them pesky dwarves, sir. On a raiding party. I expect they're
after the sheep, sir."
Kang let his breastplate slip down over his chest while he considered this
extraordinary news. Dwarves. Sheep. Raiding party. The part of him that knew what
was going on was really incensed. If he could onlyтАФ
"Good morning, sir!" came a damnably cheery voice.
Water, icy water, splashed into Kang's face.
He gave a roar and emerged, scales clicking with the shock, but now relatively
sober and aware of what was happening.
"Let me help you with that, sir," said the same cheery voice.
Slith, Kang's second-in-command, had hold of the breastplate and was looping the
strap around his commander's arm, buckling it securely beneath Kang's left wing.
"Dwarves again, huh?" Kang said.
Draconians were dashing past, pulling on armor and hoisting weapons and heading
to their assigned defense posts around the walled village. A sheep, separated from the
herd and bleating in panicked terror, trotted past.
"Yes, sir. They're hitting us from the north."
Kang ran for the northern side of the wallтАФa wall in which he took inordinate
pride. Made of stone that had been blasted by magic from the side of Mount
Celebund, the wall had been built by Kang's troopsтАФthe former First Dragonarmy
Engineering Brigade. The wall surrounded the draconians' village, kept the marauding
dwarves out and the sheep in. At least, that's how it was supposed to work.
Somehow or other, the sheep kept disappearing. When that happened, Kang could
often smell the savory scent of roast mutton, born on the night breeze, wafting from
the direction of the hill dwarf settlement on the opposite side of the valley.
Reaching the wall, Kang clambered up the stairs, his clawed feet scrabbling on the
stone, and took his place on the battlements. It was that smudgy time of morning, not
dark, not light. Kang spotted the hill dwarves running across the open ground, heading
for the north face of the village wall, but it was difficult to count their numbers in the
half-light. The lead runners carried ladders and ropes, ready to scale the walls. The
draconians manned the walls, swords and clubs drawn, waiting to knock some hill
dwarf heads.
"You know my orders!" Kang shouted, drawing his sword. "Flat of the blades
only! Make sure any magic you Bozaks use is harmless, just enough to throw a scare
into them."
The draconians around Kang all "Yes, sirred," but it seemed to him that their
voices were distinctly lacking in enthusiasm. The dwarves had reached the bottom of
the wall and were flinging up their grappling hooks and
 hoisting their ladders. Kang was leaning over the wall, preparing to fend off a
ladder, when he was distracted from the coming battle by the sound of a commotion
much farther down the wall to his right.
Thinking that this frontal assault might have been meant as a distraction and that
the first wave was already over the walls, Rang left Slith in command and dashed in
the new direction. He found Gloth, one of his troop commanders, shouting in loud/
angry tones.
A draconian was holding a crossbow, aiming it, ready to fire it at the dwarves.
"What in the Dark Queen's name do you think you're doing, soldier?" Gloth was