"Tara K. Harper - Wolfwalker 2 - Shadow Leader" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harper Tara K)

now-tiny crack, he reached up and barely got a hold on the edge
of the out-thrust ledge. The wolfwalker had smaller feet than he
did, and only half of his big toe carried his weight on the rock
where two of her toes had given her the leverage she needed to
lunge up. The rest of Aranur's foot hung out over thin air, and
he had to lean away from the rock, bracing himself off his toe
while he pulled back with his left hand. He edged out, then
pulled up ever so slowly until his elbow was even with the rock
and he could ease it over onto the ledge. Finally his arm took his
full weight, and he breathed out heavily. A minute later, with
both hands on the edge of the next overhang, he heaved and got
one knee above the slab. After that, the rest was as easy as Dion
had saidтАФonly a few more meters, and they both stood at the
top. The wolfwalker's chest rose and fell with her quick breaths
as she clenched and unclenched her hands, while Aranur eyed
the trees whose tops were even with their gaze. He could actu-
ally see the movement of the masa in the canopy, and it was not
slow. He shot his glance up the steep hill that thrust up from the
ridge, looking for a trail they could follow or a looseness in the
brush that would admit them more easily.
Dion could hear the masa behind them, but the threat had
paled next to her fear of heights. As she tightened the laces on
her leather jerkin, the cold sweat in it pressed against her
shoulders and chilled her. She shivered.
"Okay?" he asked quietly.
 "I'm fine," she said, too sharply.
"Let's go then."
She nodded silently, not trusting herself to speak, but her
hand, where it gripped the hilt of her sword, was steady. She
reached for Hishn with her mind. Gray One, she called, have
you found a way up?
I come.
Dion glanced up, judging shadows. We run with the sun at
our backs.
I run with the sound of your voice.
Dion's worryтАФthat Hishn had not yet escaped the reach of
the masaтАФ-reached the wolf, who bared her fangs and snarled
a reassurance deep in Dion's mind. The growl was more real to
the wolfwalker than the sound of the creepers below her. She
resisted the impulse to bare her own teeth in response.
In front of her, Aranur stripped the last tendrils of moss from
his sword's pommel, then started up the vertical hill on his
hands and feet. But he went up fast for all that. Dion was right
behind him, stepping awkwardly in his sliding footsteps rather
than trying to make her own stairs in the soft humus. Minutes
later, they reached the top of the hill where they stood, hands
on burning thighs, doubled over to catch their breath.
Aranur was the first to stand straight. "Masa walks," he
said, "but it might also climb." He glanced at the canopy
below them, then at Dion. She might be tired, he knew, but she