"Zach Hughes - Killbird" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

family of the mountains. We could trade for buythings with every family
within trading distance.

And one thing else. The carcass of the lion. I was fortunate. The threat
of the dragon's teeth had, apparently, kept away the small carrion eaters
and even the flying eaters of the dead. The lion was swollen, and when I
began to skin him he stank dreadfully, but his skin was intact.

The extent of my triumph was just beginning to hit me. Not only
dragon's guts, but a lionskin. The name of Eban the Hunter would live
forever in the memories of my people.

Well, to this day I don't know whether it was worth it, skinning a
long-dead lion. Stench? Gods of man! I soaked in the first stream I crossed
for hours and it was still with me, wearing off, but lingering on the skin, as
I made my way homeward, singing my victory song as I went.
 Chapter Three

They heard me coming. The small children were out first, laughing and
pointing at me, for I had not scraped my curse and it was finger-long on
my skull and finger-joint-long on my face. I paid them no mind. Then
there were the women, some calling my name. Old Seer, hobbling from her
hidehouse, her toothless mouth contorted in a welcoming smile.

I had my treasures hidden under my sleepskin.

"Logan brought a bearskin," a small boy shouted at me.

"Logan is brave," I said. Gods of man, I was confident.

"What have you got?" the lad asked, trotting along beside me. "Besides
hair?"

"You will see, small one," I said.

There was a gathering in front of the hidehouse of Strabo. I went there,
beginning to wonder if I should not have halted long enough to scrape
away my shame, but my hardax was ruined and I had not had time to
hone an edge on my new one.

"So," Strabo said, scowling. "You have returned at last. What speak
you?"

"Am I not the last?" I asked.

"You are."

"Then I ask to be heard last," I said.

Seer of Things Unseen was seated in the shade, making rhythm on a