"Mercedes Lackey - Tregarde 2 - Burning Water" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

now that she might have triggered a fate worse than the one she sought to escapeтАФa second falling of
rubble that would crush her.
When nothing else happened, she reached out with one hand, heart in her throat, and pushed
tentatively at the spot that had yielded.
Again it movedтАФmoved outward just the slightest bit. She tried to think, when the movement
brought no corresponding descent of stone on her headтАФwhat direction had she been kneeling? What lay
before her?
Carefully now, she felt along the wall; it was flat, or nearly. Cracked, cracks she could stick a
finger in up to the first knuckle, but mostly flat. It must be the basement wall, then, rather than a tumble of
concrete. She must be facing the back of the staircase.
Maybe the quake had opened up a hole next to the foundation! MaybeтАФmaybe it was even a way
outтАФ
Lupe didn't hesitate any further; the thought of a way out gave her arms a new and frenzied
strength. She shoved at the yielding place with all her might, bracing herself against the wreckage that
held her trapped; shoved until she thought she was going to tear herself in two. And when the wall
suddenly gave way, she was unprepared, and went somersaulting headfirst down a pile of dirt and rocks,
hitting her head on a stone and nearly knocking herself out a second time.
She sat up, after a long moment of dazed blinking at the false lights thrown before her eyes by the
blow on the head. Then she moaned and groveled in the dirt, for she realized she had merely exchanged
one prison for another.
It was just as dark here as it had been there; the only difference between "here" and "there" was
that now she could no longer touch the walls that held her prisoner.
That, in its way, made "here" even worse. The darkness was growing colder with every passing
moment; she was somehow certain of that. Colder; and flavored with the taint of evil, like a nest of
snakes. She could almost hear something breathing out there beyond the reach of her groping hands. The
thing that had always waited in the dark for her was here, she knew it!
She scrambled backwards, inching a little higher on the mound of dirt, trying to reach the pocket
in the rubble of the hotel basement that now seemed a haven of safety and sanity. But the dirt was loose,
and slipped and slid under her, and she could get nowhere near her invisible goal.
She became aware of a strange smell; sweet at first, then repellent. Rather like the smell of the old
catacombs where her mother had taken them all on the Day of the Dead.
But with the smell came something so welcome she ignored the faint charnel odor.
Light!
There was light out thereтАФ
Or was it only that she thought there was light?
She scrambled to her feet, peering hopefully into the no-longer-threatening darkness, clawing
sweat-sticky hair out of her blinking, burning eyes. Yes, there was light, a dim, reddish glowтАФand it was
coming from somewhere ahead of her.
So was the odorтАФbut she ignored the smell in the rush of elation she felt at the promise of light.
With her hands out before her, she stumbled blindly forward, tripping on rocks she had no chance
of seeing, until at last there were no more rocks and the dirt under her feet was level and smooth. Then it
was no longer dirt beneath her feet, but stone, smooth stone, that the heels of her shoes clattered against
like castanets.
Abruptly her hands encountered stone at eye level.
She squinted, and made out the dim bulk of a regular outline against the dim glowing. She had
found the top of a low doorframe. PerhapsтАФperhaps another part of the cellar; perhaps the cellar of
another building. There was no way of knowing what kind of a jumble the quake had made of the
buildings. She ducked, and passed the thresholdтАФ
And the glow flared up, angry and hot before her eyes. It was like molten iron, red and glaring, so
that she cried out involuntarily and hid her face in the crook of her arm.