T Lain - Treachery's Wake
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- Название:Treachery's Wake
- Автор:
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- Год:2003
- ISBN:нет данных
- Рейтинг книги:3 / 5. Голосов: 1
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The tiny thread of restraint snapped in the barbarian’s head. Overpowering anger welled up. His limbs, aching from the exertion of the fight, suddenly felt warmer and lighter, renewed by an inner reserve of strength.
“She bolted down an alley,” Lidda continued. The rogue pressed her back against the cool marble and peered around the edge. “The dogs are coming this way, but they look confused.” An uncharacteristic growl escaped her lips. “The one from the camp is with them.”
Malthooz groaned and tried to raise his head.
“Get, her,” he said weakly. “None of us is safe while she lives.” The half-orc smiled unevenly. “Get her for me.”
Vadania went to Krusk’s side, but the barbarian brushed her away. He looked at the druid but didn’t really recognize her. Next to the wall, Krusk set Malthooz down in the clean snow. When he stood, his axe was in his hands.
The others waited, unsure what would happen next. Krusk backed away from them, shaking his head. The assassin’s blood that covered him was shiny and black. His eyes were mere slits, but they glowed with anger. Without a word, the barbarian turned on his heel and jogged back the way they had come.
“I’m going with him,” Lidda announced. “Not even Krusk can chop his way into the guild hall. He’s going to need help.”
Mialee said, “Nothing but death will stop him now. Go with him, and watch out for him.”
“I’ll do what I can,” the rogue replied, “but I’m not making any promises.”
Vadania stepped forward and said, “Meet us outside the city. Mialee and I will get Malthooz to safety. Look for us to the east of the main road.”
Mialee poked her head around the corner in time to see gnolls, scattered by Krusk’s unexpected charge, milling in the street. They waited for commands that were not coming. Yauktul stood in their midst fondling Wotherwill’s staff. Krusk and Lidda had smashed through the gnolls without pausing, on their way to the guild hall.
“We should move,” she said, stepping back around the building and dropping down next to Vadania. “We can’t do anything for them, but we might still save Malthooz.”
The druid nodded in silent agreement.
Each of them took one of the half-orc’s arms, and they raised him from the ground. Mialee staggered under the load, trying to keep weight off her own injured knee. Struggling and stumbling, they started moving slowly toward the edge of the city.
“The roads will be guarded,” Vadania said. “They might not be looking for us specifically, but we’re not the most inconspicuous or innocent-looking group right now.”
“The docks,” Malthooz wheezed. “I know a way.”
Vadania looked at Mialee and the wizard shrugged.
“Trust me,” Malthooz said. “We can use a boat. Lidda and I saw it earlier.”
The wizard smiled. It was a good idea. She looked at the druid.
“Krusk and Lidda are expecting us inland, to the east, along the main road.”
“Don’t worry about Krusk,” Mialee replied. “He’ll wait for us. He’ll wait a week, or a month if he has to. He said he’d be there, and he will.”
Vadania nodded, then to Malthooz she said, “Point the way.”
The light of the sun was already brightening the edges of the horizon. Even that faint light, reflecting off the snow, brought crisp detail to their surroundings. Shadows sharpened and peaks of roofs were outlined in icy sparkles. The wizard wasn’t sure what the gnolls were up to, but she expected that, between the staff’s magic and Krusk’s assault, they were no longer much of a threat to anyone but themselves.
A door opened along the side of the street, causing Mialee’s heart to skip. She started to pull Malthooz to the side, hoping to get out of sight, but the face that peered at them in the dim light pulled back as quickly as it emerged. The startled stranger obviously recognized their battered forms as the approach of trouble and thought better of getting mixed up with them.
We must look awful, Mialee thought.
She tried to imagine what must be going through that person’s head. At first it made her smile, but the smile faded with the thought that she was stuck in the middle of the situation.
“We won’t be so lucky when the whole city comes alive,” Vadania said.
She pulled ahead, pushing them to move faster.
“That will be any minute by the look of it,” Mialee replied.
As they rounded the next block, Mialee saw the top of a mast showing above the roof of a squat warehouse. The docks were just beyond the next lane. The ship’s sail was bunched under a spar, its folds catching the full light of the sun as it broke the horizon.
Any minute now, the wizard told herself, and the city will be awake.
They passed the next row of buildings and moved along the ranks of ships that lined the harbor front. There, at least, two oddly-dressed people helping a stumbling friend wouldn’t attract much attention.
“It’s not far,” Malthooz said, “beyond the next pier.”
Mialee could feel the half-orc’s strength giving way. His weight on her shoulder was increasing and his steps growing more unsteady. Whenever he faltered, his bulk threatened to drag her to the ground.
Just a bit more, Mialee told herself, praying that he could hang on and stay conscious until they reached their destination.
Malthooz whispered, “Stop.”
Lifting his shaking hand, he pointed to the top of a ladder that showed just above the edge of the dock. They moved over to it and Vadania scrambled down. She stopped halfway and shifted to the side, hooking one leg around the ladder to brace herself. Mialee helped Malthooz get his foot on the top rung.
An arrow whistled past the wizard’s ear. The gnolls were advancing down the row of ships. At their head was the packmaster, urging them on while holding Wotherwill’s staff high above his head.
“Gnolls! Hurry,” Mialee cursed as she watched Malthooz drop from sight.
How he found the strength to cling to the ladder, she didn’t know. She leaped down, bypassing the ladder entirely, to land on a heap of rope on the lower dock. Despite Vadania’s help, Malthooz lost his grip and the two of them crashed down as well.
The three of them struggled back to their feet and stumbled, dragged, and pushed themselves to the end of the dock, where a ship’s boat was tied up. Vadania jumped in, then cushioned the fall of the half-orc when Mialee pushed him over the edge of the dock. Water sloshed into the small craft as they tumbled against the gunwale.
Arrows flew overhead and thunked against the sides of the boat or skipped erratically off the dock. The gnoll leader stood at the top of the ladder, waving the staff. His troops milled to either side of him, disorganized and disoriented but still dangerous. Spittle flew from the commander’s snout as he barked and shouted at his pack. His words were incoherent, but the gnolls needed no encouragement to keep firing on the rowboat.
“If you have any ideas at all, do something quick,” urged Vadania.
Mialee heard the druid’s words, but only as background noise. Her fingers were already rummaging through the pouch at her belt with practiced familiarity. Vials and coins were hastily pushed aside or flipped out onto the bottom of the boat until she found what she was after. Mialee’s hand brush something smooth and cold, and her fingers snapped around it. She yanked the bone scroll case from the bag and struck it against the side of the boat. The case split into pieces, letting the scroll spill into the wizard’s waiting hands.
With the scroll clutched tightly, Mialee dropped to the bottom of the boat and rolled onto her back next to Malthooz. She ignored the arrows flying overhead, and the howls of the gnolls who thought they’d shot her, and she started reading from the scroll.
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