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Автор Keith Baker
Keith Baker
The City of Towers
PROLOGUE
There was a moment when they might have won the battle. The Cyran troops were seasoned veterans, though they had little choice in the matter. In these troubled times a man became a soldier the moment he was old enough to wield a scythe or a flail. The troop had been taken by surprise, but within moments of the initial assault the Cyrans had formed ranks and were holding their own.
A roll of thunder heralded the arrival of the stormship, then terror dropped from the night sky. Painted black, the sleek longboat herself was almost invisible from the ground, but the lightning flashing around the ring of elemental air holding the ship aloft flickered off the bottoms of the clouds, painting the battlefield in bright light and black shadows. Within moments a wave of arrows rained down upon the Cyran army.
Fiery explosions rocked the battlefield. Hundreds died, and the tide of battle altered.
Daine swore as he strode into the ruined camp, cursing Flame and Sovereign alike. Behind him, the warforged Pierce surveyed the carnage, two arrows held to his massive longbow. Jode examined the bodies of the fallen, but the halfling’s healing touch could not raise the dead.
“Saerath!” Daine shouted. “Saerath, if you’re already dead I swear I’ll find a path to Dolurrh so I can torture you for eternity!”
A pale face peered around the open flap of a singed tent. “But captain!” the balding half-elf whimpered, his face pale. “It’s an ambush! There are enemies all around! You know I’m not supposed to place myself at risk!”
Daine reached inside the tent, grabbed the collar of Saerath’s robe in one mailed fist, and hauled the wizard forward and almost off his feet. Though slightly built, Daine was surprisingly strong.
“Damn the Queen’s rules, Saerath! Ten more minutes and there won’t be an army left-and that includes you!”
He released his grip, and the portly half-elf staggered back a few steps.
As if in answer to his words, a massive ball of flame came whirling out of the sky. Striking forty feet to their left, the explosion filled the night with the smell of burning flesh and the screams of men and horses.Daine pointed at the stormship as it swept overhead. “We’ll serve as your shields, but I need that ship down
As if to put Daine’s vow to the test, an enemy soldier emerged from the smoke and into the flickering light of the burning tents. It was a creature out of an artificer’s nightmare-metal, darkwood, and leather merged into a human shape. Its mouth was filled with daggers, and its metal torso was studded with shards of sharpened steel; with every motion the spikes scraped again its joints, generating a painful whine. The warforged soldier held a gory morningstar in each hand, and seeing Daine’s badge of office it raised its bloody weapons and charged.
It never reached him. From his right a silver blur flew forward-Pierce, his own warforged companion. Pierce crashed into the larger warrior and knocked it flat on its back. Daine stayed with the wizard while Jode and Lynna raced to help Pierce. But even from the ground, the warforged was a deadly opponent. With one swift motion it hurled a morningstar into Lynna’s chest, tearing flesh and crushing bone. Before Pierce and Jode could respond, the armored beast rose to its feet and battle was joined in earnest. Sparks flew as the two warforged rained blows on one another. As Lynna’s life ebbed into the dirt, Daine looked back at the cowering wizard.
