"Jay Lake - The Leopard's Paw" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lake Jay)

By damn, he was the leopard, wasnтАЩt he? Sometimes a man had to allow himself a little pride, he
thought.

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Six days later, at the new moon, Ervin stood on a ridge and looked down upon his goal. RedwaterтАЩs
cyclopean ruins were no more than bulking shadows by starlight. The river that threaded out of the
shattered city was a darker line amid the black grass.

Ervin had brought his leopard skin here by travois, two dayтАЩs march. It had taken him the days between
to heal his hands and make the hand-boots. Now he shrugged his way into the wicker frame with
practiced ease, lacing the arm stays. He saved the hand-boots til last. He was rather proud of the leopard
spoor heтАЩd worked in the palms.

Now, he thought, to the city.

The Borgans had believed with a passion that no man walking upright could enter Redwater. It was
surrounded by curses, and everyone knew the ghosts of the leopard priests had the cold jealousy of the
dead. Ervin himself had seen three Borgan youths race toward the walls in broad daylight, passions
aflame with dares and counter-dares, before dropping dead in the grass. Older warriors had crawled in
upon all fours to drag them forth.

The boys had no marks upon their bodies.

He reasoned that while the idea of a curse was plain foolery, it was possible some strange weapon from
the ancient days existed within the ruins. Perhaps it threw a line of force at the height of a running manтАЩs
beating heart. Perhaps it knew the shape of a man, through the workings of some dimly clever
electromechanical eye. The Borgans and their brother tribes were charmingly primitive and downright
obtuse, but it was clear enough to Ervin that an industrial civilization had once stood here.

Someone had the means to raise the great slabs which comprised the ruins of Redwater, after all. It
would take more than crowds of slaves to do such work.

By going crouched within the skin of a leopard he would twice over fool whatever defenses lurked
within. Further, if the Borgans were spying on him as they so often did when he descended from his
solitary hills, they would see him go in as a leopard. To be known to those savages a skin changer could
only stoke their fear of him. That in turn would build respect in their simple minds, and give Ervin the
freedom of action he required for his longer-term plans.

He slunk through the grass, moving in his best approximation of a leopardтАЩs loping bound. The hardest
part of this rig was seeing right before him. He accomplished this by tossing his head and looking beneath
the fearsome teeth which framed the opening in front of his face.

The walls were close before him. ErvinтАЩs sense of direction had not betrayed him. The hand-boots were
saving him great trouble and pain as well.

He loped onward, through the massive gates which had stood unbarred for three generations since the
downfall of the city.

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