"Steven Piziks - A Quiet Knight's Reading" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piziks Steven)

A Quiet Knight's Reading
Steven Piziks
«^»



Her wounds ached and drops of green blood occasionally spattered the stone floor, but t
dragon was determined not to let that ruin her evening. With exquisite care, she licked one
claw and turned the page of the thick book on the reading table before her. Her other claws
peeled back a nicely blackened suit of armor, making a sound like the foil coming off a
chocolate bar, only a great deal louder. The movement made the scratches and gouges on he
body cry out and she had to pause until they stopped.

When the pain passed, the dragon took a juicy bite, careful not to let anything drip on the
book. She knew very well that it isn't a good idea to eat and read at the same time, but tonig
she really deserved the treat.

Besides, everyone needs a vice.

Something this Chaucer person seems to understand completely, she thought, chewing
carefully and turning to another page. So much more compelling than anything that other
pompous, puff-headed poet could come up with. Spenserian verse indeed! No wonder he w
never admitted at court.

A pang jolted the dragon's heart and her head automatically snapped around, creating a
corresponding jolt of pain. Someone else was in her keep-in the courtyard, to be exact. The
dragon could feel stealthy footsteps on her stones, sense ripples wafting through the air as t
intruder moved.

Another knight? She looked down at her meal. I haven't even recovered from this one ye

Step step step. The intruder was getting closer, though the pace was cautious. An odd,
unfamiliar feeling rose in the dragon's chest.

The dragon set down her dinner, closed the book, and undulated stiffly toward the courty
of the keep.

The keep itself was blocky and fairly small, with cold, empty corridors and dusty doors
great hall ran down the center, with human living quarters above and cellars below. Scrubb
wind-swept hills surrounded the place, and the nearest human town was almost seven days
human travel away. Unfortunately, almost two hundred years of successful hoarding invaria
gives one a certain reputation with treasure-seekers-no matter how far away the closest hum
might be.
 Step step step. The dragon's odd feeling intensified.

Every idiot who can wave a sword thinks he can conquer the mighty dragon and steal he
hoard, she growled to herself. As if they deserve it-or could even carry it away.

The dragon slid over a pile of loose rubble and hissed sharply when the stones ground in
her still-bloody wounds. She braced herself against the wall until the world stopped spinni