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

his sight when he was at home.
Until today.
With communication at a minimum in the Firestoke
quarters, certain necessities such as paying the tap fees
and keeping the larder stocked - things Jilian normally
did - had piled up so that she had to do something about
it or face such problems as late penalties on water and oil
bills. So she had gone to her father's chamber for the
money she needed, and found that he was away on busi-
ness.
For the first time in months Jilian had opened the old
dwarf's private locker.
Now she stood over the locker, holding a dagger in her
hands - a small, nickeliron dagger with an ebony-and-
brass hilt. It was a dagger she had seen many times, but
not in her father's things. It belonged to Chane Feldstone.

Chapter 5

Chestal Thicketsway had been a little miffed that
the dwarf had abandoned what promised to be an inter-
esting exploration in favor of playing with fire and iron
and such things. But, in the way of all kender, he hadn't
stayed miffed very long. The world held far too many
new and fascinating things to see for any kender to dwell
for long on any one subject... even such a novelty as a
fugitive dwarf who could kill a giant cat with his bare
hands and make himself a bunny suit.
Before he had gone a mile, Chess found a new fascina-
tion. The forest of this valley, what he had seen of it so
far, was an ancient forest. The gnarled and twisted hard-
wood trees, some still wearing their fall colors though
many now were bare, spoke of ages of time, while the

deep loam beneath them, under a thick carpet of fallen
leaves, whispered of countless generations of such trees
that had grown and fallen before them. Thousands upon
thousands of years have passed here, the forest seemed
to say, and nothing of note has occurred. Nothing here
has changed.
And yet, where the rolling lands came down to a little
rock-bound stream, the forest did change. Across the
stream was a different sort of forest, younger and less
brooding. The kender crossed, climbed the far bank, and
prowled around, looking at everything. The trees were
large here too, but younger and more varied. The forest
here spoke of hundreds of years... but not of thou-
sands.
"It burned," something said... or seemed to say.
Chess was not sure whether he had heard words or imag-