"01 - Mercadian Masques - Francis Lebaron 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lebaron Francis)

tenderly embraced her. "Are you all right?"
Hanna lifted her head, breathing in short, panting gasps.
She raked blonde hair back from her face and said
breathlessly, "Yes ... but what of the ship?"
"Ship be damned. What of the crew?" Gerrard said gravely.
The only other crew member on the bridge had been the
cabin boy. The goblin had been hurled against the wall and was
now a mere bundle of whimpering limbs.
"Are you hurt, Squee?" Gerrard asked, moving toward him.
The green-skinned creature struggled to his feet. There
was no sign of serious injury. "Squee's head got cutted off!"
Gerrard smiled. "Not cut off, but I'm not sure it's on
straight." As Squee cracked his neck and every other joint,
Gerrard strode to the bridge window.
Beyond, the minotaur first mate helped injured crew
members. Strong and surehoofed, Tahngarth himself had escaped
the crash relatively unscathed.
Hanna was already heading out onto the upper deck. She
gave a faint yelp of dismay and ran aft along the slanting
planks to view the damage done to the ship's sails.
Gerrard joined the minotaur. "How bad is he?" he asked,
gesturing at a young sailor who gingerly cradled his arm.
Tahngarth's eyes blazed yellow beneath twisted horns.
There was blood in the minotaur's flaring nostrils. "This
one's not bad. Some broken bones, cuts, bruises. Orim's
sickbay will be overflowing." He motioned to two crewmen, who
helped the injured sailor to his feet and conducted him toward
a hatch.
Gerrard nodded gravely. "At least we got out of Rath-"
"Most of us," Tahngarth said. Gerrard had only recently gained
the minotaur's trust, and now there was unspoken accusation in
his eyes. "There are at least two dead-thrown from the prow.
They can't be alive, twisted like that. And, of course,
there's Mirri, and Crovax, and Ertai-"
"Ertai?" Gerrard asked, scanning the deck with anxious
eyes.
"Not here. He must not have made it." Gerrard slapped a
hand against the railing. "You're saying he's still in Rath?
Damn it, how could he not have made it onto the ship? All he
had to do was jump as Weatherlight passed under him."
"He did manage to close the portal behind us." The
minotaur pointed behind Gerrard to the empty sky. "The opening
is gone."
Taking in the news, Gerrard said solemnly, "Even if it
weren't, we'd have to fix the spar before we could fly back to
get him."
"It's worse than that," came a new voice, rumbling behind
them. The two turned to see a massive man of silver haul
himself up from the engine room hatch. Smoke wreathed the
metal golem and coiled into the early morning sky. Karn was a