"Adkins, Patrick H - Titans 01 - Lord of the Crooked Path" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adkins Patrick H)

said. "When did you find it?"

"Yesterday afternoon, on my way back from Mount Helikon."

"Well, it can't be all that interesting," Thalia said, still she'd never
have kept it a secret this long."

Melpomene gave them her most tight-lipped smile. They had reached the
top of the hill. All around them stark peaks and gaping canyons bespoke
the unimaginable age of their world; at the same time laughing streams
and virgin forest proclaimed its eternal youth. Staring out across the
treetops, Melpomene scanned the smaller hills and valleys below, teeming
with life. A lone red deer came down from a hillside forest, while a
saber-tooth stalked it from the concealment of large rocks.

Beyond the farther hills began the moist expanse of the Boiotian plain,
most of which was still covered by early morning fog. Near its edge
herds of antelope and bison had begun to graze. Barely visible, Lake
Kopais glinted dull blue in the distance.

"Yes, I'm right," Melpomene announced. "We aren't far now."

She pointed off to the left, where jagged limestone hills descended
toward the plain. A crystalline stream gleamed among the rocks. On its
way to the lake it broadened, becoming brown and shallow as it crossed a
long, narrow glade rimmed by ash and oak trees.

"Is that where we're going?" Thalia demanded. "If you weren't lost, you
certainly took the most roundabout route possible."

"I wanted to avoid crossing the plain. If we were seen--"

"She was lost!" Thalia began to dance around her sister.

"I was not," Melpomene protested, for the first time becoming genuinely
annoyed at Thalia's playfulness. "I didn't want to cross the plain, and
I didn't know the most direct way here."

"That's what I said. You were lost!"

Melpomene folded her arms across her breasts and refrained from
answering. It took only a few moments for her to regain her normal,
indulgent good nature. "I'd love to bicker the rest of the morning, dear
sister, but we should start walking toward those trees. From here on we
must be very quiet--I know you'll find that a chore, Thalia--and we must
avoid being seen."

Thalia grinned broadly, but before she could reply, Kalliope took her
arm and guided her in the direction Melpomene had indicated.