"Dave Duncan - A Handful Of Men 3 - The Stricken Field" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

realized he was hungry, and began to contemplate the prospects of a plate of chicken dumplings.

“Sysanasso?” Tik Tok mumbled, his mouth full of meat.

“Another good idea. There’s a nasty rumor about fauns being stubborn, though. I don’t know where to
start there, or how we can persuade them even to spread the news.”

Rap knew who was the logical agent to assign to Sysanasso, and he didn’t want the job. He had never
thought of himself as indispensable before, but he suspected he was the only glue that might hold this
improbable legion together.

He heard a strange noise he could not recall ever hearing before. Doctor Sagorn was laughing.

“Doctor?”

“I was just imagining the elvish customs officials at Vislawn or Mistrin when you dock and they meet
your crew.”

“I am not familial with elves,” Tik Tok remarked. “Singers, not fighters?”

“Elves are people of exquisite taste!” Sagorn said primly.

Rap expected Tik Tok to say he was ogrely looking forward to meating them, but he didn’t. Perhaps
mere puns were beneath his dignity. He just licked his lips again.

“Zark has sorcerers,” Grunth said, and yawned like a hungry crocodile.

“I’m sure it does,” Rap agreed. “It also has a central authority, the caliph. We wrote to him and
hopefully he will spread the word. Dragon Reach might make a very good refuge, if we take no metal
and use no sorcery. Or the Keriths—sorcerers should be able to resist the merfolk, shouldn’t they?”

Thrugg leered. “Resist the men.”

Sagorn snorted. “Your Majesty, I am inclined to think you initiated this counter-revolution without
adequate preparation.”

“I’m certain of it. We had very little choice at the time.”

Silence fell in the rocky chamber, broken only by the quiet trickling of water down one slimy green wall.
The ambience, on the other hand, was approaching the boil. A couple of the older anthropophagi were
trying to calm things down, with little success. Perhaps the shielding would fail, and the whole castle just
explode.

Rap clawed his hair, making a mental note to shorten it in the morning. ”Listen, Doctor. Maybe you can
help me. Ever since we began this adventure, I’ve had a nagging hunch that I’ve forgotten something,
that I’m overlooking something.”

“I understood that sorcerers had perfect memories.”

“I’m not much of a sorcerer. But that’s a good point. If I have forgotten something, maybe I’ve been