"James Alan Gardner - League of Peoples 02 - Commitment Hour" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

"Think about it," was her only answer. "What are you doing here?"

Under normal circumstances, I would have lied or brushed her offтАФit was a reflex I'd acquired over the
preceding months. Since winter, I hadn't had the stomach to share anything with her, certainly not events
that confused or disturbed me. Now, however, she looked so unlike herself that the reflex didn't spark. I
told her everything, all the while glancing furtively at her hair, her clothes. She snorted in outraged
disbelief when I swore there was a second violinist; but she had figured out the music came from the
duck flats and she could see I didn't have my instrument with me.

When I finished my story, she headed immediately for her own duck trap. The brisk way she stomped
off intimidated me; I didn't go after her. In a moment I heard her curse with a phrase no woman should
ever use, and something heavy splashed into the water.

She walked back slowly. In the darkness I couldn't identify the expression on her face.

"A duck for you too?" I asked.

"Part of one. Are you going to use that spear for anything?"

"If you think I should track down the stranger, you're wrong," I said. "I don't want to break vigil any
more than I have already."

"Then giveme the spear." She held out her hand.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're a woman."

"I'm better with a spear than you are."
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I had to laugh. In her male years, yes, Cappie was an absolute master with the spear, both in target
throwing and hand-to-hand fighting. If she Committed as a man, she would surely be offered initiation
into the Warriors Society. But this year she was a woman and unfit to wield a weapon. Her clothes must
have gone to her head.

"Go hide someplace safe," I told her. "Down by the dead tree where we once saw the owl, remember?
I'll stay close to that tree too; if the stranger comes back, you can call for help and I'll be right there."

She stepped in close to me, and I thought she was coming for a hug of reassurance. I started spreading
my arms. Then her fist ploughed hard into my stomach and she kicked my feet out from under me. I
crumpled to the ground and lay there dizzily, the smell of mud under my nostrils.

The spear was no longer in my hand. Somewhere far above me, Cappie said, "Go hide someplace safe."



I lay on the flats several minutes, my head spinning. Eventually I managed to flop over on my back and