"Scott G. Gier - Genellan 02 - In the Shadow of the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gier Scott G)

"O'Toole!" Tatum bellowed, his voice booming across the mountain
meadow. "I need my laces secured. Yo, Terry!"

Shaggy golden horsesтАФGenellan horses, stubbed-nosed and
knobby-leggedтАФstarted at the noise, jerking their heads and staring
inquisitively. Flowing tails twitched nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," a distant voice replied from downhill, within
the tree line. O'Toole appeared from the gray-needled, yellow-barked
spruce, carrying an armload of firewood.

Yawning, Tatum watched the cliff dwellers fiddle with flint and iron. A
spark ignited. Smoke blossomed from grassy tinder. Spitter greeted Tatum
with a cheerful twitter. The bow-legged hunter, hand signing greetings,
waddled over, leaving Bottlenose fanning the glowing embers with a
partially unfurled wing. Spitter's grotesque pickax face grinned up at Tatum,
displaying jagged white teeth. Tatum exhaled and thrust out his left foot.
The knobby-headed animal, its flying membranes double folded tightly
across its back, threw a taloned foot over Tatum's shin, its skinny
four-fingered hand moving in an adroit blur. Spitter chirped. The big
redhead pushed out his right foot, and the hunter saddled his other knee.
 "Not so tight," Tatum grumbled.

"Ah, intergalactic cooperation of the first order." O'Toole chuckled,
dropping frost-crusted logs beside the fire pit. Bottlenose grabbed loose
pieces of bark and fed the nascent fire.

"If you like mystery knots," Tatum grumbled. "You'll have to untie these
suckers. Probably have to cut 'em off."

Tatum tried to stand, but Spitter jumped on his broad chest, grabbing at
the human's hair with spindly hands.

"What the hell's he doing to your face?" O'Toole chortled.

"He's securing my frigging hair," Tatum snapped, grabbing the hunter by
his luxuriant scruff and lifting him bodily onto a boulder. Tatum turned his
back. With deft twists the hunter wrapped the human's thick mane in strips
of hide.

"True love," O'Toole said with a laugh as he put a pot of water on the
mesh grill. "Wait'll I tell Fenstermacher."

"Up yours," the redhead muttered.

Tatum grabbed the proud hunter by his leather armor and pitched him
violently into the air. Spitter squawked, threw out his membranes, and
swooped to the ground in a curving spiral. Landing softly, the cliff dweller
danced about and chirped with glee. Bottlenose waddled over, holding out
bony claws. Tatum gave O'Toole a dirty look, picked up the hunter, and