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

already been partly filled with dust and caved in by the other
prints of rabbit and grouse. He motioned for Dion to join him.
"There are few animals using this path," he commented.
"And it is running in a fairly straight line toward camp."
But she hesitated and pointed along the trail. "All the large
animal tracks are old here, Aranur. Only the small ones are
new." She shook her head, and the Gray One bared her teeth
slowly.
"And masa walks," he said softly to himself.
"Would the masa let the small animals through so that larger
ones would follow?"
He shook his head slowly. "A trap like that implies intelli-
gence, Dion."
She chewed her lip, a vague uneasiness making her unwill-
ing to set foot on the path. "Let's think on this a moment,
Aranur. What if this masa is intelligent? It's not nativeтАФthe
ancients brought it across the stars when they came. And they
did a great deal of crossbreeding before they developed the
plants we use today. They could have bred these vines the same
way."
He snorted. "For what purpose?"
She motioned, and the wolf snarled deep in her throat. "This
masa is an almost perfect barrier," Dion said softly. "Better
than the thornbush, since that cannot move or chase its prey. If
this masa grows throughout the foothills as thickly as it does
here, it would keep anyone from invading across the moun-
tains."
"Maybe." Aranur stood up, glancing down the trail one
more time. "But I think if the ancients could cross the stars and
tread on worlds as easily as the legends say, they would not
have used something like masa to keep them from each other's
throats."
"Who's to say it was themselves they were guarding
against?"
Aranur smiled grimly. "Whoever or whatever worried them,
the ancients left these hills long since. This masa now . . ." He
looked down the trail again and frowned. "We will never see
the feeder roots on the ground in all this brush. If there are coils
up in the trees big enough to haul us up, we will have to be fast
to avoid them before they catch us." He squinted. "They are
not quick so much as they are unexpected. And strong. You
can get snagged and caught before you know what hit you, and
the toxin in the vines' suckers is just like that in water eelsтАФit
works fast." He took two steps forward, paused, and looked
back over his shoulder. "Watch the trees overhead. You'll
hear the leaves rustle just before the coils drop."
Dion shivered. She looked around again, but this time the
forest seemed dark, not shaded, and sinister, not silent. The
few birds that flashed through the leaves were fearful of mak-
ing too much noise, and their songs were short, sharp warnings