"Mercedes Lackey - Valdemar Anthology - Sun in Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

bed roll. I needed all the sleep I could get, because I knew that some night soon we would have
company.
***
The following day everything seemed to go fairly normally. We noticed no large shapes in the
distance, and saw no unusual tracks. I still felt as if we were being watched, though. Any truly smart
animal would stay on rocky ground or the trunks of fallen trees. It was nightfall that I was waiting for.
That was when we were not moving and the shields would be up. It would be then that I would be
prowling just like a predator.
After we had found a suitable spot to camp, I immediately cast my sensing spell, but it wasn't till
halfway though the night that it alerted me. I sneaked out of camp, using a simple camouflage
enchantment on my clothes and carrying a rope. The magical sensor that I carried told me when I was
fairly close to the animal, and it "felt" only one animal in a hundred-yard radius. This made everything a lot
easier for me. I sat down a few yards from the bushes where my sensor amulet had shown the animal
was. Now I prepared the spell that I had thought of using the night before. I took my time. Anything
nearby that was curious would be watching intently as I waved my hands and conjured energies. Then
closed my eyes and set it off.
Even with my eyes shut, the blinding flash of light still hurt. Judging from the thrashing noises and
growls from the bushes, whatever had been lurking there had been staring at what I had been doing with
intense interest. I conjured a globe of light and set it hanging in midair. It showed a huge cat with a high
forehead. Its fur was a very deep shade of green.
 Using my rope, I ensnared the thrashing limbs and tied up the cat before it could see again. Then I
sat down in front of it, weaving a rather delicate and tricky translation spell. Soon I could hear that the
animal's noises were not really just yowling, but some very nasty swear words.
After it had blinked a few times, and seemed to be able to see a bit, it focused its gaze on me.
"Speak, I can understand," I told it.
For a moment it just stared in surprise.
"Well? Why haven't you killed me?" it asked.
"I could ask why you have not attacked our other scouts," I replied. "But I already know why. You
are intelligent, and you were being sensible and cautious. Because of that, I caught you with a spell that
would have worked with any truly intelligent species. A more stupid predator would have just attacked
me because I am smaller and look defenseless."
"I do not care to risk injury by attacking dangerous prey. If I am not fast, fit, and strong, I will
starve."
"To answer your first question, I haven't killed you, because we, too, are an intelligent species."
"That is obvious. I was sent to watch your camp for three nights, then report to the rest of the
pack. You puzzled us: you do not hunt, yet you do not graze either. You are soft and defenseless, like
grazers, yet bright and cunning..."
"Like hunters."
"Yes. We would have attacked your camp already, otherwise."
"That would have been very, very silly. Our weapons are not claws and teeth, but they are still
deadly."
"Now I know that your species is truly sentient, not like the mrran."
"Mrran? What is that?" I asked
"A mrran is the animal that you have adopted into your herd-or should I say pack? It puzzled me
greatly when you did not kill and eat the mrran. The others could hardly believe me when I told them."
"We have other uses for the mrran. It provides wool to cover us. Unlike you, we have little fur of
our own. Do you understand that?"
"Yes. In a way I pity you for not having a naturally warm, glossy, thick coat." At this it preened a
bit. "What are the other reasons?"
"Do you remember what happened a couple of days ago?"