"Mary Kirchoff, Douglas Niles. Flint, the King ("Dragonlance Preludes II" #2) (angl)" - читать интересную книгу автора

That same explosion tore apart the Plains of Dergoth once
again, and marshes crept over the surrounding land.
Flint had no interest in wading through a swamp - his
fear of water was legendary among his friends in Solace. So
it was that he chose to climb through the low mountains to
the northeast of the narrow pass that cut through the peaks
to Hillhome. Flint took his time in finding a clearing just to
the east of the pass and off the Passroad, then in collecting

and igniting the right logs for a hot, long-lasting fire, and fi-
nally in sizzling the last of the fat slab of bacon he had
brought with him from Solace. As darkness settled, Flint re-
laxed. I'll miss this solitude, he thought, sighing.
He looked at the Passroad, just a little below his camp.
Deep ruts ran along its length. Whereas in the past it had
borne only the traffic of.sheep- and goat-herders, or the oc-
casional farmer's cart, now the road was wide and well-
worn.
Flint recalled the building of the Passroad from his child-
hood, though he had been too young to help with the work.
The hill dwarves had labored for several years to smooth
out the grades, lay a stone foundation over the swampy
stretches, and create a route that could, someday, connect
Hillhome to the not-so-distant shore of the Newsea.
The immediate purpose of the road had been to open up
the valley adjacent to Hillhome to hill dwarf settlements,
and this had occurred to a limited extent. Still, in retrospect,
the road had not been very profitable, considering all the
work.
Suddenly Flint's thick body tensed like a mandolin string.
He was not alone.
The dwarf's first warning was a vague perception, not re-
ally sight but more sound, of something approaching from
the southwest. Wooden wheels crunched over gravel. Flint
turned from the low fire to the pass, and his infravision -
the natural, temperature-sensing ability of dwarves that al-
lowed them to see objects in the dark by the heat they
radiate - quickly adjusted.
A heavy, broad-wheeled wagon, looking more like a huge
rectangular box, rattled up the rutted Passroad from the di-
rection of Hillhome. Who would be driving a wagon
through the pass in the dark of night?
Flint stepped from his fire to the edge of the road. Hun-
kered over intently on the buckboard, the driver snapped a
whip over the heads of the four-horse team that was labor-
ing to pull the wagon up the steep incline toward the pass.
The steeds snorted and strained, pulling an obviously heavy
load. Flint could not determine whether the small figure of

the driver was dwarven, human, or something worse. Now