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

as it had been, but it was black again and hemmed in the
cats. "Because we don't need it any longer," the dwarf
said. Picking up his pack, he strode to the east verge of
the road and walked off into the forest. Behind him,
across the road, the cat pack snarled and rumbled, un-
able to cross.
"Well, come on," Chane glanced back. "Let's see what
it was that you wanted to look at."
It might once have been a machine, in some incredibly
ancient time. Or it might have been a building. Perhaps
even both. Now it was a great heap of rubble and broken
metal things, slowly surrendering to the landscape. Trees
hundreds of years old grew from its crest, vines and
brush obscured its slopes, and a carpeting of forest leaves
and grassy loam was well along toward burying it.
Chane and Chess wandered over and around it, peer-
ing, poking, and prying.
"This looks like part of a wheel," the kender chattered.
"But why would anybody make a wheel fifteen feet
across? Wow! Look at those things sticking out of the
mess. What are they, drills? They're as big around as -
and here's some old, rusty chain. Must have weighed a
ton per link when it was still good iron. I wonder what
this was, over here. A furnace of some kind? Did you no-
tice that all these stones scattered over here are square?
They might have been paving blocks. What do you sup-
pose this thing was when it was something?"

"I haven't the vaguest idea." Chane was digging
through a reddish heap of vaguely-shaped rust tumbles,
raising a cloud of thin red dust that settled on his black
furs like rust-colored snow. After several minutes he
straightened, holding up a long, slim object to have a
better look at it. It was a rod, nearly six feet long, gnarly
and misshapen from centuries of rust. He knew by its
heft, though, that there was good metal within it. He set
it aside and began digging again.
For some time the kender explored the ancient heap,
his bright eyes shining in wonder at each new mystery.
He moved things here and there, on the thought that
whatever all this was the outside of might also have an
inside, and somewhere there might be an entrance. Find-
ing none, he scampered here and there over the surface of
the thing, tugging and pushing at everything that pro-
truded, seeing what would move. Where a broken shaft
of heavily corroded metal angled upward, he cleared
away broken stone, then braced his feet and pulled at the
stub. Deep beneath him, something groaned and large
parts of the mound shifted slightly. Beyond the crest, the
dwarf shouted, then appeared at the top.