"Frank Herbert - Dune 4 - God Emporer of Dune" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

which bordered the Idaho River. She glimpsed moon brightness on water beyond the
clearing.
Run, Kwuteg!
She longed for a sound from Kwuteg, any sound. Only the
two of them remained now from the eleven who had started the run. Nine had paid
for this venture with their lives: Radi, Aline, Ulot, Setuse, lnineg, Onemao,
Hutye, Memar and Oala.
Siona thought their names and with each sent a silent prayer to the old gods,
not to the tyrant Leto. Especially, she prayed to Shai-Hulud.
"I pray to Shai-Hulud, who lives in the sand."
Abruptly, she was out of the forest and onto the moon-bright stretch of mowed
ground along the river. Straight ahead beyond a narrow shingle of beach, the
water beckoned to her. The beach was silver against the oily flow.
A loud yell from back in the trees almost made her falter. She recognized
Kwuteg's voice above the wild wolf sounds. Kwuteg called out to her without
name, an unmistakable cry with one word containing countless conversations-a
message of death and life.
"Go!"
The pack sounds took on a terrible commotion of frenzied yelps, but nothing more
from Kwuteg. She knew then how Kwuteg was spending the last energies of his
life.
Delaying them to help me escape.
Obeying Kwuteg's cry, she dashed to the river's edge and plunged headfirst into
the water. The river was a freezing shock after the heat of the run. It stunned
her for a moment and she floundered outward, struggling to swim and regain her
breath. The precious kit floated and bumped against the back of her head.
The Idaho River was not wide here, no more than fifty meters, a gently sweeping
curve with sandy indentations fringed by roots and shelving banks of lush reeds
and grass where the water refused to stay in the straight lines Leto's engineers
had designed. Siona was strengthened by the knowledge that the D-wolves had been
conditioned to stop at the water. Their territorial boundaries had been drawn,
the river on this side and the desert wall on the other side. Still, she swam
the last few meters underwater and surfaced in the shadows of a cutbank before
turning and looking back.
The wolf pack stood ranged along the bank, all except one which had come down to
the river's edge. It leaned forward with its forefeet almost into the flow. She
heard it whine.
Siona knew the wolf saw her. No doubt of that. D-wolves were noted for their
keen eyesight. There were Gaze Hounds
in the ancestry of Leto's forest guardians and he bred the wolves for their
eyesight. She wondered if this once the wolves might break through their
conditioning. They were mostly sight-hunters. If that one wolf at the river's
edge should enter the water, all might follow. Siona held her breath. She felt
the dragging of exhaustion. They had come almost thirty kilometers, the last
half of it with the D-wolves close behind.
The wolf at the river's edge whined once more then leaped back up to its
companions. At some silent signal, they turned and loped back into the forest.
Siona knew where they would go. D-wolves were allowed to eat anything they
brought down in the Forbidden Forest. Everyone knew this. It was why the wolves
roamed the forest the guardians of the Sareer.