"Mickey Zucker Reichert - Bifrost 03 - Dragonrank Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichert Mickey Zucker)

Chapter 11Master Plan

Part III:The Dragonrank Master

Chapter 12Geirmagnus

Chapter 13Master of Time

Epilogue

Dedication

In loving memory: To Gertrude Reichert and Ryan Boyles, as promised.

Acknowledgments

To all those deserving who were inadvertently forgotten: D.J. Miller, R. Douglas, andS. Davis who
encouraged and fueled my imagination; also Cindy and Melissa Mosko who kept the sparks alive.

To Dave Hartlage for effort above and beyond the call of duty; James Hoffman and the Beths, Nachison
andHudson , who helped more than they know.To Arthur, Sandra, Steve, and Tal Zucker, Laura
Newman, and Evelyn Migdol (you all know why). To Captain Kevin Ran-dle who spared an hour (the
equivalent of 8V2 of his manuscript pages) to take me back toVietnam —again.

And, as always, to Sheila Gilbert who accepts nothing short of the best… and deserves it, too.

But mostly, I would like to thank Tim Larson, once a bold lunatic who could never pass up a challenge,
now a yuppie in suburbia.

Map
Prologue

Northern winds battered a mud-chinked log longhouse in Kiarrmar, carrying the promise of a fierce
Scandinavian winter. Inside, Taziar Medakan huddled beneath his bearskin cloak, a stranger toNorway
's fouler weather. The cards in his small, callused fist felt brittle. He studied the faces of his four Viking
companions and smiled as Kolbyr Hansson threw his cards to the rickety table which served as the only
piece of furniture. Four pairs of grim, blue eyes settled on Taziar.

Ignoring the Vikings' stares, Taziar shook a comma of black hair from his eyes. He flicked cards from
his hand to the table in groups."Two Vikings, two kings, and three dragons." He looked up. "Guess I win
again." Leaning forward, he swept a pile of coins from the center of the table into a larger stack before
him.

Kolbyr went silent. To his left, Torben grunted. Bothi muttered a phrase to Hamar which Taziar could
not decipher. He had spent a harried month learning the Norwegian tongue from barbarian friends
inSweden . Bothi's accent and civilized dialect rendered his words unintelligible, but their intention
seemed all too clear. Suddenly, Taziar felt acutely aware of being the shortest man in the room by a full
head and the lightest by again his own weight. Irony seared through him.Eight years a thief in Cullinsberg
and I'm going to get killed for winning a card game honestly . He rose. "Friends, your Fates were kind to
me today…"