"Dan Parkinson. The Gates of Thorbardin ("DragonLance Saga Heroes II" #2) (angl)" - читать интересную книгу автора

to the turning edge, and a new black path the width of
the strip extended fifty feet into the forest. Chess scam-
pered back and forth along the new path, peering off into
the forest. "Nothing interesting yet," he said, finally.
"We'd better go back for another load."
The second stripe taken from the main path extended
the new road another fifty feet, and the third stripe put
them well into the forest, almost out of sight of the road
where they had been. Poised at the very end of the
gravel, the kender peered and squinted, looking ahead.
"There is something over there," he pointed. "But I can't
see what it is. It's something big, though. Another load,
and we should be there."
"Another load and we'll have wiped out the original
path back there," Chane pointed out.
"Oh, come on. Where's your spirit of adventure? Just
one more haul."
They started back, and Chane was almost at the clear-
ing when he stopped. "Now see what we've done," he
grunted. Ahead, black cats were crossing the main road
freely. Whatever the black gravel did to stop them, there
wasn't enough left on the skidded section to work.
The kender studied the problem solemnly, pursing his
lips as his pointed ears twitched slightly in thought. Then
he shrugged. "It's all right. We weren't going that way,
anyway."
"We can't go back, either," the dwarf pointed out. "We
might want to, you know. We...." He paused, then
caught the kender by the shoulder.."That business you
did before, leading the cats off... can you do that
again?"
"I suppose so. Won't be as much fun the second time,
though. Things like that get to be routine after a while."
"I don't care," the dwarf said. "Just do it."
The kender shrugged. "I guess one more time won't
hurt. Come along, kitties. Time for another run." Poking

and prodding at snarling predators, Chess circled the
stump of the road, gathering more than a dozen cats on
the far side. With a final swat of his staff, he took off
around the curve, great cats bounding after him. Left
alone, Chane wrapped his harness over his shoulders
and set about replacing gravel on the main road. Some
time passed before the kender returned, a long line of ir-
ritated cats slinking along abreast of him. When he saw
what the dwarf was doing, Chess shouted and ran to-
ward him. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "We
need that gravel. Why are you putting it back?"
Panting, Chane slipped out of his vine harness and in-
spected his work. The road here was not as neatly graded