"Anderson, Poul - Flandry - Day Of Their Return v1 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

Above them paled Dido, the morning star.

II

East of Windhome the country rolled low for a while, then lifted in
the Hesperian Hills. Early summer had gentled their starkness with
leaves. Blue-green, gray-green, here and there the intense green-
green of oak or cedar, purple of rasmin, spread in single trees,
bushes, widely spaced groves, across an onyx tinged red and
yellow which was the land's living mantle, fire trava.

A draught blew from sunset. Ivar Frederiksen shivered. Even his
gunstock felt cold beneath his hand. The sward he lay on had
started to curl up for the night, turning into a springy mat. Its
daytime odor of flint and sparks was almost gone. A delphi
overarched him: gnarled low trunk, grotto of branches and foliage.
Multitudinous rustlings went through it, like whispers in an unknown
tongue. His vision ranged over a slope bestrewn with shrubs and
boulders, to a valley full of shadow. The riverside road was lost in
that dusk, the water a wan gleam. His heart knocked, louder than
the sound of the Wildfoss flowing.

Nobody. Will they never come?

A flash caught his eye and breath. An aircraft out of the west?

No. The leaves in their restlessness had confused him. What rose
above Hornbeck Ridge was just Creusa. Laughter snapped forth, a
sign of how taut were his nerves. As if to seek companionship, he
followed the moon. It glimmered ever more bright, waxing while it
climbed eastward. A pair of wings likewise caught rays from the
hidden sun and shone gold against indigo heaven.

Easy! he tried to scold himself. You're nigh on disminded. What if
this will be your first battle? No excuse. You're ringleader, aren't
you?

Though born to the thin dry air of Aeneas, he felt his nasal
passages hurt, his tongue leather. He reached for a canteen. Filled
at yonder stream, it gave him a taste of iron.

"AahЧ" he began. And then the Imperials were come.

They appeared like that, sudden as a blow. A part of him knew
how. Later than awaited, they had been concealed by twilight and a
coppice in his line of sight, until their progress brought them into
unmistakable view. But had none of his followers seen them
earlier? The guerrillas covered three kilometers on both sides of
the gorge. This didn't speak well for their readiness.