"Douglass, Sara - Axis Trilogy 1 - Battleaxe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

Veremund laid his hand on Ogden's shoulder. "We can make ourselves useful amongst the horses. If they panic when that cloud hits they will kill more effectively than any ice spears that Gorgrael can send our way."
Most men managed to dig themselves a small pit in the ground, dragging armour and cloaks over themselves, wriggling as close as they could into the earth.
When Belial indicated a small depression he had prepared for them Axis shook his head. "Hand me my cloak, Belial. I want nothing else. I will meet Gorgrael's fear on my feet."
He pushed Belial down, dragging a canvas ground sheet over him, then wrapped himself in his cloak and turned to face the clouds.
Already they had enveloped the outer edges of the Axe-Wielder lines and Axis could see the hunched forms of his men disappear as the clouds rolled forward.
Behind him Axis heard a horse neigh in terror, then a gentle whisper sounded and the horse snorted once and was quiet.
But he had eyes only for the clouds.
He wondered if death was like this. The clouds consumed everything before them. One moment a line of hunched shapes was clearly visible, the next it was simply gone as if it had never existed.
.Suddenly Axis' face was lit with an eerie blue and silver light, the reflection of the glow of the clouds, and in the next instant they had consumed him as well.
A cloud of fear, Ogden had said, and the moment they rolled over his head Axis knew why.
It was as though he stood alone in all existence. The enveloping cloud, clinging to every curve of his body and seeping up his nostrils, cut him off from every other living creature. Even the stars and the earth were gone. Although Axis knew Belial lay in a depression at his very feet, knew he was there, yet he was not. Belial was gone and Axis was alone. There was nothing but this cloud, running its hungry, icy fingers over the exposed skin of his face, sending slivers of fear sliding into the darkest niches of his body.
The interior of the cloud was brighter than the hottest day. The silver and blue bolts of lightning somewhere deep in the cloud's interior reflected off every particle of water in its misty substance so that Axis had to squint to keep the light from hurting his eyes.
He began to tremble. There was nothing here in this cloud but himself. He was alone, isolated in existence.
Wrong. The whispers began again.
"Axis, Axis . . . pretty, pretty . . . tasty, tasty . . ."
Axis bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming. They were like yet unlike the whispery voices from his nightmares. The whispers of his nightmare had hot teeth which stripped his skin and flesh achingly slowly so that he died the most painful death possible. These whispers were simply hungry . . . and Axis could hear them seeking through the mist.
"Pretty, pretty."
"Tasty, tasty."
"Axis, Axis."
And then, horribly, from somewhere off to his right, Axis heard the click of claws. Click, click. Click, click. Click, click. As if some ghostly creature was scraping through the mist towards him.
He tried to tell himself that there was nothing there. Just voices. Just fear.
Click, click.
And, far away, the sweep of great wings through the air. And again.
"Axis, Axis."
Click, click. Click, click.
And the sweep of wings.
He felt a movement at his feet and thought it was a creature come to devour him. He jumped back, feeling his heart seize so violently he thought it would kill him.
"No," a soft voice moaned.
Belial! Axis took a deep breath. He was not alone! Not only Belial, but over three thousand of his men were out there.
How could he have forgotten that?
Again Axis breathed deep, clinging to the thought that he was not alone. Gradually he regained some measure of composure. Fear. That was all that Gorgrael could throw at him. Fear. Whispers in the cloud. Fear.
But Ogden was right. Fear could kill. If you allowed it to run away with your reason it would eventually persuade you to relinquish your hold on life.
And no doubt every one of the Axe-Wielders out there in their own private nightmares were as consumed with fear as he had just been.
Axis laughed, hard as it was, and reached down with his hand. He fumbled about then hauled the canvas off Belial. The rough feel of the material in his hand gave him added heart and even when a set of teeth snapped so close to his ear that he could feel their passing, Axis did not let it distract him.
"Belial? Belial, my friend!" Axis forced a hearty tone into his voice. "Why do you cower on your belly when you still have myriad adventures to face on your feet? Arise, my friend, and give me some company in this cursed mist."
"Axis?"
Axis flinched at the fear evident in Belial's voice. If Belial had succumbed this badly, then how were the rest of his men faring isolated in the mist?
Axis grasped Belial's hand. "Come, Belial, we still have a night of revelry ahead of us." He hauled Belial to his feet, appalled at the sickly blue hue over the man's face.
"Revelry," he repeated slowly, then suddenly he knew what he had to do. "Belial? Come, wake from your fugue." He snapped his fingers.
"Axis? What do you plan? A dance?" His voice was as forced as Axis' had been moments earlier, but at least he was making an effort.
"A dance, Belial? If I plan a dance then we need partners. Come," he gave Behal a shove that propelled him into the mist. "Wake those about us and we will have a night of revelry such as Gorgrael has never seen."
Pray keep your heart, my friend, Axis thought as Belial stumbled into the mist. Pray keep your heart.
Axis sat down, reached into the pack he could feel at his side, "Ah, here you are. Well, Gorgrael, do you know this little ditty, perhaps?"
He struck a chord on the harp, then began to sing merrily, his voice clear and sweet, cutting through both mist and whispers.
Belle my Wife, she loves no strife she said unto me quietly, Rise up and save Cow Cmmbocke's life!
man! put thy cloak about thee!
Standing among the horses, Veremund and Ogden stared at each other wide-eyed. They had been affected by the mist, but not as badly as the Axemen.

"I thought he would have sung -" Ogden began, but Veremund cut him off.
"No. No, this is perfect. Anything else would have been alien to his men's ears. This they know. This they can cling to."