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

pleased by the destruction below.
The general wore ceremonial armor of black, etched in
red. Tall boots of polished leather protected his feet and
muscular legs. A breastplate of deepest blue-black reflected
darkly across his torso, while several large rubies winked
crimson around the edges of the plate.
His face lay entirely concealed behind the grotesque dark
helm. A scarlet plume, rising from the crest of the helmet
and then trailing below and behind him, enhanced his
height even more than his already impressive natural size.
Heavy, curved plates of the same black steel as his breast-
plate covered his shoulders and accentuated his imposing
physique.
Now he paced alone, atop a blocky, black-walled tower
just south of the city - one of two such prominences on the
black fortress known as the Temple of Duerghast. This
huge, walled structure squatted low on the slopes of the
smallest of the Lords of Doom, Duerghast Mountain. The
towers of the temple provided a splendid view of Sanction,
and the mountains and sea beyond.
The Temple of Duerghast was, in fact, more of a fortress
than a place of worship. The high black wall surrounded the
entire structure. It provided space for barracks, troop train-
ing, and even an arena for gladiatorial combat.
The temple and the entire city, now as always, lay under a
leaden, overcast sky. The gray blanket was caused by the
smoke and ash that spewed from its surrounding summits,
and because the valley of Sanction was a windtrap, termi-
nus of the Newsea.
A river of steaming lava, glowing cherry red in the eter-
nally twilit valley, cut through the center of Sanction. An-

other finger of flaming rock trickled toward it by a different
path. Soon the two boiling streams would meet, forming a
lava moat around the other temple.
The general's gaze lingered on that great construction -
now a pile of rock, slowly being given form by the lava and
ash. The Temple of Luerkhisis, that one was called, after the
second of the Lords of Doom. The temple held the keys to so
much of the future, for in its bowels were kept the precious
eggs of the good dragons. Those gold, silver, brass, and
bronze orbs would - when the time was right - force the
neutrality of good dragonkind, allowing the empire of dark-
ness to be born.
But there was much to be done before that could happen.
An army had yet to be raised, equipped, and trained. Plans
would be drawn, powers marshaled. All of this would take
time. But he knew how to put that time to good use.
The general had begun to organize his forces. Already,
thousands of mercenaries had gathered in the scarred city