"Alan Dean Foster - Humanx 1 - Midworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

absently as he thought furiously for something to com-
pare it with.

"Like the axe!" he blurted, pointing dramatically
to the weapon dangling in the shaman's hand. "It was
like the axe."

Everyone's gaze automatically shifted to the holy
weapon. Reader's included. Soft whispers of derision
sprang up. Nothing was like the axe.

"Perhaps you are mistaken. Bora," Sand ventured
gently. "It did, as you say, happen very fast. And
you were falling when you saw it."

"I'm positive about it, sir. Just like the axe." He
wished he was as certain as he tried to sound, but
he could not back down on his story now without
sounding like a complete fool.

"In any case," he found himself saying, to his hor-
ror, "it is a simple enough matter to prove. We need
only go and look."

The mutterings from the crowd grew louder; they
were no longer derisive, but shocked.

"Born," the chief began patiently, "we do not know
what this thing is or where it has gone. It may have
already returned to the depths from which it probably
came. Let it stay there."

"But we don't know," objected Born, leaving his
place to stand close by the fire. "Maybe it hasn't
returned. Maybe it's down only a level or so, sleep-
ing, waiting to catch the scent of the Home to come
seeking us one by one in the night. If it is such a
monster, then we would do better to seek it out first
and slay it as it sleeps."

Sand nodded slowly, stared around at the people.
"Very well. Who will go with Born to sniff out the
trail of this demon?"

Born turned to look at his fellow hunters, silently
imploring. Long silence, defiant stares. Then, star-
tlingly, a response came from an unexpected quarter.

"I will go," Losting announced. He stood and stared
smugly across at Bom as if to say, if you're not