"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 3 - Sword Of Bheleu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

further; its pantherlike tail lashed silently from side to side. Galt knew
that most cats disliked water-very few overmen kept pets, but he had seen them
aboard the trading vessels out of Lagur-and he wondered if the creature was as
miserable as its feline forebears would have been if forced to stand in
pouring rain for hours on end. He was not familiar with warbeasts, and could
not tell from its face or its actions; to him it seemed as calm and impassive
as ever, save for the motion of its tail.
To his left was empty plain; several yards away a dark shape rose up
against the night sky where some human farmer had built his home. Somewhere
beyond that, lost in the gloom, he knew there was another overman standing
watch with a warbeast ready at his side.
Ahead of him, perhaps a hundred yards away, stood the ruined wall of the
town of Skelleth, and the fallen towers that marked its North Gate. A pale
flicker of light reminded him that some unfortunate human was also stuck with
watch duty, but that man, whoever he was, at least had the comfort of a fire
and whatever shelter was provided by the one tower wall that still stood.
Galt envied the man his fire. Even if he had had enough dry fuel to keep
a fire going, he would not have dared to light one; it went against policy and
good sense in so underequipped a siege as this one. The enemy forces could use
such fires to locate the sentries, making it that much easier to send spies
out between them, and to smuggle supplies in.
The firelight flickered oddly, and Galt's attention was drawn to it
briefly, but he dismissed it as unimportant. The guard had probably walked in
front of it, stretching his legs, no doubt.
The light flickered again, and then seemed to brighten. Galt blinked
rain away and peered at it more closely.
It was brighter; in fact, there were now two lights, and one was moving.
The watch fire remained where it was; the increase in brightness had been the
addition of this new light, whatever it was. He watched and listened
carefully.
The new, smaller light was slowly approaching. Galt stirred uneasily,
sending another trickle down his back, and his right hand closed on his sword
hilt. The light was definitely coming closer. Although it was hard to be sure
through the hissing rain, he thought he heard boots sloshing through mud. He
patted the warbeast's side, then returned his hand to his sword and loosened
the blade in its scabbard. The warbeast's eyes opened, gleaming a ghostly pale
green in the dimness as they caught the faint light; its tail stopped lashing.
Galt took a step forward.
He had forgotten the added weight of his armor and that he had been
standing in mud for several long minutes without moving his feet; there was a
soft sucking sound as his boot came free, though the motion required little
more effort than it would have ordinarily.
The light suddenly stopped moving, still at least a dozen yards away;
there was an instant of silence, save for the pattering of the rain, and then
a voice called softly, "Overman?"
Galt made no reply, but slapped the warbeast's neck in the signal
meaning "separate and surround"; the monster obediently slipped silently away
in the darkness. Galt spared a second to wonder how anything that large could
move so quietly in the rain and mud.
"Overman? Please, if you're there, I come in peace. I want to talk to