"Glass,.James.C.-.Shanji" - читать интересную книгу автора (Glass James C)

CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
PART III
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
PART IV
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EPILOGUE



PROLOGUE

Toregene awoke to the turbine scream of a flyer, and discovered
that her right leg was numb. She'd been crammed in the spider-
trap like a cork in a bottle since dusk, and had somehow worked
her right leg beneath her in sleep. No feeling there, clear up to her
hip, and her neck and shoulders ached from the hours of hunching
forward in the tiny space. For a moment she dared not move, and
listened.

The flyer had passed right over her position, so low she could
smell aromatics still raining from its wake. The engine whine
diminished as the craft sped west towards the mountains, then
steadied. The spider-trap was at the edge of a cliff overlooking
Hulagu valley, a precariously placed strategic spot. Instinctively,
Toregene opened her eyes and concentrated on the darkness,
emptying her mind of any vision that might attract a Searcher. The
patrols were daring and thorough, and there were always
Searchers among them to invade the mind of an intruder.

Toregene listened for the snap of a twig, the crunch of a boot on
needle-carpet, and heard only the caress of wind on the trees. The
earth around her smelled of humus and damp roots. Something
crawled across her cheek, and she flicked it off with a finger.

After some moments, she dared to move, pressing her back
against dampness and straightening the pinned leg. Feeling
returned; the pricks of a thousand knives, the pain a Searcher's
beacon if one were nearby. But now she was fully awake, and
aware. This late at night, without even moonlight to guide their
steps among the tangle of trees and brush, the ground troops
would be confined to the valley, and rely on flyers to locate and
report any pesky bands of Tumatsin who dared to interfere with the
Emperor's occupation of their lands.