"Nicola Griffith - Yaguara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith Nicola)

тАЬWhat did she say?тАЭ
тАЬShe said youтАЩre not made for the mountains.тАЭ


It was just over a mile from the village to the ruins. The trail
was a twisty tunnel through the green. Sweat ran down the
underside of JaneтАЩs arm, and she felt as though she were breathing
sap. Ahead of her, CleisтАЩs shorts whif-whiffed as she walked. Their
boots were silent on the thick leaf mold. Insects hummed and
whined. Jane slapped at something that landed on her neck.
тАЬGot to be careful of the insects,тАЭ Cleis said over her
shoulder without slowing down. тАЬEspecially mosquitoes. They
carry botfly eggs and things out of your worst nightmares.тАЭ Cleis
had no idea about her nightmares, Jane thought.
They walked on in silence. The heat pushed its strong fingers
under JaneтАЩs skin, slicked muscle and bone until she felt slippery
inside, like a well-oiled machine. The jungle eased down her throat,
sighed in her ears, whispered You could let go here, and no one would
know.
Jane realized she was stroking her belly, walking with a loose
open-hip sway. Armored, inviolate, safeтАж She jerked her hand away
from her stomach and laid it on the hard black case hanging down
by her hip. She was the only one with a camera here. She was in
control.
Cleis stopped abruptly, turned. тАЬWeтАЩre almost there. You have
to remember that this is classified as a minor site, not to be
confused with the great centers like Tikal.тАЭ CleisтАЩs hands moved as
she talked, emphasizing phrases with precise gestures like
movements distilled from tai chi or wing chun. тАЬThereтАЩs only one
pyramid, and that hasnтАЩt been fully excavated. Nothing has. It may
not look like much but Kuchil Balum is more important than
anyone knows.тАЭ Her hands stopped, fell back to her sides. тАЬI just
wanted you to know that.тАЭ
They climbed the last few yards up a steep rise and looked
down at Kuchil Balum.
Grassy hummocks and walls choked with vines lay scattered
around an area the size of a small urban park, perhaps two acres,
level, but slightly sunken. It reminded Jane of the huge ruined
amphitheaters of Greece, only here it was wood, not stone, that
formed the sides of the bowl, great vertigo-producing trunks that
spun themselves up and up to bridge earth and heaven.
Over the faint susurrus of leaves a hundred feet from the
ground, Jane thought she heard something else, something that she
felt as a faint vibration under her feet. тАЬWhatтАЩs that noise?тАЭ
Cleis smiled. тАЬWeтАЩll save that for last.тАЭ
Jane clambered over a pile of tumbled stone and to the top of
a small mound. It was not hard to envisage this place as it had once
been: people coming and going, sun flashing on jade and gold,
children playing with a ball. Why had they left?
The northwestern corner of the site was hemmed in by gray