"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 1 - Lure Of The Basilisk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

to avoid being accidentally caught up in the melee. Garth noticed this, but
guessed it to be merely a result of Elmil's distrust of Koros and failed to
see its true significance. He had no objection, especially since it put the
bandit further downwind. He sat up for a few hours but decided that a proper
watch was unnecessary, particularly in view of how little sleep he had managed
the preceding night, and went to sleep shortly before midnight.
It was three hours later that he was awakened by a growl from his beast.
He was instantly alert, reaching for his battle-axe, which lay in its
accustomed place close by his side. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he
saw three men on horseback, armed with lances, standing on the road perhaps
fifty feet away.
Koros was awake and wary, standing over the supplies and growling; Elmil
was still asleep, and a fourth rider had dismounted to stand over him with a
spear at his throat.
"I'll watch this traitor. You three kill the animal, and then we'll
handle the overman." It was the man on foot who spoke.
Not wishing to lose either mount or captive, Garth leapt to his feet,
axe in hand, and charged toward the intruders. To his astonishment, he was
stopped short perhaps two yards from his bed, rebounding as if from an unseen
wall. One of the horsemen laughed nastily, and all grinned as Garth groped his
way along the barrier, to find that it extended in a full circle some six or
seven yards in diameter, bringing him back to where he began, facing the
bandits. It extended to the ground throughout, regardless of the irregular
terrain, and higher in the center than he could reach, when he leapt with one
arm extended upward his hand met no resistance. When he tried to pull himself
up the invisible wall, he could get no grip. It was as if the barrier slid out
from under his fingers, dumping him rudely, still trapped inside. He dismissed
any thought of jumping free; he could not possibly clear the mysterious
barrier without a running start, for which he had insufficient room. He glared
impotently at the bandits, who sneered back.
"All right, enough fun. Kill the beast." Once again it was the man on
foot who spoke, apparently the group's leader.
The trio moved to obey, but reluctantly; Koros was fully as formidable
an enemy as its master. The first raised his lance and urged his horse to a
gallop. The warbeast batted aside his charge as a kitten bats a ball, of yarn,
flinging the man screaming from his horse, his lance snapping against the
beast's flank without leaving more than a scratch.
Elmil was awake now, watching helplessly as the other two approached
more cautiously, looking for an opportunity to plunge their weapons into the
warbeast's vitals. They separated, circling the monster in opposite
directions, making it impossible for Koros to face them both; realizing what
was happening, the beast went on the offensive and sprang at one of them,
claws out, smashing the man off his horse against a rocky hillside. The other
flung his spear; it stuck in Koros' shoulder, but failed to slow the beast as
it ripped the throat out of the fallen bandit.
"Stop!" cried the apparent leader. "Overman, call off your beast, or
I'll kill Elmil!" Elmil looked pleadingly at his quondam captor as the
bandit's spear hovered over his heart.
Garth took perhaps half a second to consider, in which time Koros had
pounced again, slashing at its remaining attacker without unhorsing him,