"C. S. Friedman - Coldfire 2 - When True Night Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friedman C. S)

"Can't stay here," Rasya warned. "Not unless you want
to be a sitting duck for the next smasher. Look there: that
shore's been hit hard and often. Staying here is asking for
trouble." She ran a hand thoughtfully through her short
hair. "We could head out to sea for a while instead, come
back in with Domina's tide . . . risky at night, but if the
wind holds steady I'd chance it."

The captain looked to Damien for approval, then
nodded. "All right. Do it."

She nodded, laid down the slim black telescope, and left
them to give the orders that would adjust their course.
Damien moved to follow her. But the captain's hand on his
shoulder stopped him.

"Not yet," he muttered. "Not just yet."

He gestured for Damien to retrieve the telescope. He did
so, and focused once more on the distant shoreline.

"By the top of the stairs," the captain directed. His voice
was tense. "About two hundred yards to the right. Back
from the edge a bit."

Shadows. Boulders. And a circular form that gleamed
darkly in the sunlight, a ring of blue-black metal that
looked out over the surf like a vast, nightbound eye. It was
not hard to make out, once he had found it. It took him a
while longer to make out the shape that was behind it. The
long metal tube and its supporting frame, coarse timber
fastened with heavy iron bolts. Iron balls beside it, stacked
with geometric precision. Canisters.

He lowered the telescope. And swore softly.

"Now mind you," the captain said, "I haven't seen a lot
of 'em . . . but that damn sure looks like a cannon to me."

Night fell, but it brought no true darkness. The cloudless
sky was still half-filled with stars, a thousand brilliant
points of light that twinkled in the cobalt heavens like
diamonds on jeweler's velvet. Toward the west there were
so many of them that their light ran together, pooling like
molten gold along the horizon, crowning the sea with fire.
Soon Erna's second sun would set - a false sun, made up of
a million stars - but until then the Ernan colonists need
have no fear of darkness. Only the creatures who feared
true sunlight would call this time night.