"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 4 - Book of Silence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

and his mistrust of the King's motive for proposing the mission steadily
increased. Having come this far, however, he was not inclined to turn back.
The road he followed was little more than a narrow trail at this point,
but it was not seriously overgrown; Garth wondered what traffic it bore that
kept down the weeds and grasses. He had been told that no outsiders dared
venture into Orgul and he decided that the Orgulians themselves must be
responsible. This implied that they still conducted a minimum of trade with
the outside world, which did not quite accord with the stories Garth had
heard. The people of Orgul had been described to him as a dwindling handful of
humans who lived constantly in hiding and in perpetual fear of the monster
that ruled their land.
Obviously, if this valley was Orgul, all the stories were greatly
exaggerated.
The exact details were immaterial, however. He had come to dispose of
the dragon once and for all, regardless of the extent of the damage it caused.
A single unnecessary death was enough to justify his task.
It struck him as odd that the Forgotten King should allow him to risk
his life in such an altruistic venture-if altruistic it actually were. He grew
more certain that the old man had some ulterior motive, some subtle and
selfish reason for sending Garth off on this journey.
His thoughts were interrupted by a growl from his beast; he glanced down
at the creature's flattened ears, then at the road ahead.
A figure was emerging from one side of the forest and waving desperately
at him. Whoever this person was, he evidently wanted the overman to stop.
Garth spoke a word to his mount, and the warbeast came to a smooth halt a pace
or two away from the man.
The overman glared down at the human. He was aware that his appearance,
particularly when mounted upon Koros, was impressive and even intimidating; he
made good use of that fact at times.
The man hesitated, gazing up at the huge, dark form of the overman. He
had heard of overmen, but had never seen one before. Descriptions had not done
them justice, and he was certain of Garth's species only because he knew of no
other large humanoid beings.
Koros he could not place at all; he simply stared.
Two pairs of inhuman eyes stared back, one set golden and catlike, one
red as blood and whiteless, but otherwise almost human.
He himself stood a little over five feet tall and was thin; the overman,
he judged, was nearly seven feet in height, were he to stand on his own booted
feet. He was not standing, of course, but was seated atop an immense and
frightening animal, black as the heart of a cave and resembling an oddly
proportioned, long-legged panther.
The man had never seen, nor heard of, a panther eighteen feet long and
five feet high at the shoulder. The warbeast looked down at him, and he was
not accustomed to having animals look down at him. Its rider, noseless,
dark-skinned, blackhaired, and beardless, towered above him as if he were no
more than a crawling infant. Still, he finally managed to gather himself
together sufficiently to stammer out his message in the face of these awesome
intruders.
"Turn back, my lord! Do not venture further, I beseech you!"
Garth stared down a moment longer; then, without moving, he demanded,