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

He wondered why. Perhaps it wasn't hungry, and merely wanted to drive
him away without a fight. Or perhaps it was hungry and did not want to destroy
its dinner. It probably preferred its food raw, not roasted.
Koros roared an answer to the dragon's bellow and turned to face it; the
warbeast, at least, was still ready to fight. Garth decided against
retreating; he had come to kill the thing and he would never kill it by
fleeing.
The creature finished a long, slow turn in mid-air and came at him
again, screaming this time like a maddened demon, its cry like nothing the
overman had ever heard before. It tore past him, inches above his lowered
head; he thrust his weapon upward, where it glanced ringingly off the
creature's forelegs without seeming even to scratch them. Garth doubted the
dragon had felt the blow through its scaly armor.
The monster wheeled about again, and again it rushed down the sky at
him, even lower than before; he leaned sideways in the saddle, ducking out of
its path, and struck upward again. The point of his sword bounced and
scratched along the creature's belly, then rang metallically from a hind leg
and was knocked aside. There was still no sign that the dragon had felt a
thing.
If it came in any lower on its next pass, Garth knew, he would be unable
to duck under it where he was. As it looped about with another roar, he
prodded Koros' flank with his heel and shouted a command.
The startled warbeast broke into a run, moving forward under the
dragon's next howling lunge. This time the monster spat forth a jet of flame
that seared the grass where the warbeast had stood a moment earlier, and Garth
congratulated himself on his decision to dodge.
He watched intently as the creature turned again; it moved smoothly and
gracefully, but was not actually very fast in maneuvering. It seemed unable to
bank more than a few degrees; Garth guessed that, perhaps due to its size, it
was not as stable in flight as a bird. A sufficient tilt might bring it down.
He wondered if there were any way to use that against it, then forgot about
aerodynamics as it swept down toward him again.
He sent Koros sideways this time, turning the warbeast out of its path.
He misjudged slightly, or perhaps the dragon had allowed for his motion, and
he felt the heat of its fiery breath at his back. Koros roared in pain; the
fur of its tail had been singed.
Garth patted the warbeast, apologizing, as he considered the situation.
The traditional method of dragon-slaying, according to legend, was to find
some minute chink in the creature's armor and strike at it. He had seen no
sign of any flaw in this dragon's defenses-but then, he had been too busy
dodging to study it very closely. Still, the armor on this monster seemed
almost unnaturally perfect-countless rows of fine golden scales in flawless,
gleaming array.
The dragon was not making another attack, he realized; instead, it was
circling, far out of reach. It appeared almost to be waiting for something, as
if to see if the overman still intended to fight. Garth considered retreating,
then dismissed the idea. When diving, the dragon moved with the speed of a
falling stone, and it could probably catch him from behind before he could
reach the forest. It might, he thought, be trying to coax him into just such a
foolhardy maneuver.