"Lichtenberg,.Jacqueline.-.Dushau.Trilogy.02.-.Farfetch.(V1.0)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lichtenberg Jacqueline)

When it was so dark she couldn't make Jindigar's sled out ahead of her, his voice floated back on the whipping wind, "Tune to break out the handlights!" A tiny point of light flared to mark his place. He swung it in an arc to mark the path, and Krinata passed the signal back. He led them from side to side, over a fallen log swept down from some distant hilltop. The wind tore at them, their desert cloaks no protection. The sand abraded Krinata's face right through her face screen. Her whole body was raw, and she was about to give up when she smashed full-tilt into Jindigar.
While she was still stunned, he stopped her sled next to his own, making it settle to the ground. "You can sit here!" he yelled over the roaring wind. Her light showed his face whitened by the sand powdering his indigo nap. His eyes were closed, the bulging eyeballs shrouded by opaque lids, but he moved as if he could see clearly as he helped Gibson stop his sled at an angle to hers, making a shelter. She rested as sleds accumulated and people huddled, exhausted. Then there was an ominous gap in the line of arrivals, and Jindigar took off into the murk, saying, "I'll be right back." His tone said he knew, through Frey, what had gone wrong.
Krinata forced her protesting legs to carry her after Jindigar. Walking into the wind was harder than pulling the sled with the wind. But it was downhill. Her feet slid out from under her, and she fetched up at the bottom of a slope. One of the Cassrians sprawled behind a sled which was dragging him while Frey wrestled it to a halt.

''It's Trassle," Frey announced to Jindigar.
Storm freed the Cassrian of the harness as Krinata joined them. Jindigar swept his light over her, then bent to examine the stiff sectioned body as Frey said, "Cassrians don't have a central circulatory system, but he could be suffering a kind of circulatory collapse."
"Maybe it's just exhaustion," suggested Storm. "If we get him onto the sled, I can pullЧ"
Jindigar interrupted. "I've got everyone stopped near a place where we can climb to a cave. It's not the best choice, but we've got to try it while we have the strength."
"And before the storm hits," agreed Frey.
"It hasn't?!" asked Krinata.
"Not yet," answered Jindigar. "Frey, can you climb onto the cargo and make a place to tie Trassle securely?"
Handlight swinging from his belt, the young Dushau swarmed up the cargo heap as if he hadn't been hiking all day. Jindigar fashioned a rope cradle for the exoskeletal body, and the three men easily hoisted the Cassrian to the top.
Surveying the situation, Jindigar said, "Krinata, would you be willing to ride on top with Trassle in case he comes to? It may be a dangerous ride."
"I can do it," she replied.
Frey jumped down as if it were no height at all, and Krinata took a grip to climb, wondering where she'd get the strength. Jindigar said, "Let's pamper that arm of yours a bit. Here, I'll give you a boost."
He made a cradle of his two hands. She placed her boot gingerly, and his strength seemed limitless as he raised her until she could scramble aboard and secure herself beside the Cassrian. The three men maneuvered the sled up the slope, keeping it almost level. Another sled followed, and then they were all gathered in one place.

Allel, Trassle's mate, scrambled up beside Krinata, calling piteously to her mate in the Cassrians' multitoned speech, and Krinata slid off the cargo and joined Jindigar, Frey, and the four Lehiroh beneath a forbidding cliff at the side of the river wash. "I think we can get the sleds up there," said Storm, and the three other Lehiroh agreed. "But you've got to get the cityworms out of our way."
"I mink they can climb it by themselves," said Jindigar. "What do you think, Krinata?"
"None of us are mountaineers, but do we have a choice?"
"No. We don't have time to make it to the next possible climb. Good thing we came north." Krinata didn't exult in being proven right.
Gibson joined them, asking, "Strategy council?"
"Could you climb that without help?" asked Jindigar.
"In daylight, and without this wind," allowed Gibson.
"Frey?" prompted Jindigar.
"I did something like it once, in snow. Does anybody know where we put the climbing gear?"
"Sled Four," answered Storm.
"On the bottom," added Jindigar. "But we've got enough rope loose for a few traverses of this thing."
"I can't make the height," admitted Frey, flashing his light upward. It was swallowed by murk.
Jindigar pried a rock loose from the wall before them and tossed it to Frey. "Here, try this."
Frey caught it, then held it between both hands. "Five or six times my height. Not too bad. Hey! Now I've got the cave! But will it be big enough for all of us?"
"We'll leave some of the gear outside for a barricade. Notice the wind, though. Sand won't bury that cave."
"I thought Dushau needed bright light to see," said Gibson, squinting up the cliff.
"We can't see as well as you can in this," answered Jindigar. "But Frey is learning to balance."

Before Gibson could pursue that, Frey said, "I'll get the rope. Give me a hand, Gibson?"
"Sure," answered the man, and he followed Frey.
"When Frey has the rope rigged, we'll have them climb it," said Storm. "Then we'll take the sleds upЧa twenty-minute job. Allow an hour. Will we make it?"
"Maybe," answered Jindigar. "Just barely."
Moments later Frey was back, a heavy loop of rope over one shoulder and a bundle of lights slung from his waist. He tackled the cliff without hesitation, and until he was well over Krinata's head, he didn't even pause to consider hand- and toeholds. Every so often he stopped to plant one of the lightsticks, or to use the butt of one to dig a hold. Then he was out of sight, and they waited, Jindigar narrating Frey's progress until the rope snaked down to dangle before them, and Jindigar said, "I think it's time to see if anyone has the ambition to go first,"
Gibson replied, "I'll go see."
Krinata considered the increasing wobble in her legs. With every moment there was less chance she'd have the strength to make it. "I'll give it a try."
"I'm worried about that arm of yours," said Jindigar.
"I think it'll hold. Besides, I'm right-handed."
She grabbed the rope, a large, padded climbing rope with knots evenly spaced along it. Jindigar secured a loop around her waist and gave her a boost. She braced her feet against the cliff, finding toeholds Frey had made, and for a few moments it was just like an exercise class. But then her general fatigue caught up to her, and next to the fifth light, she was once again caught in the down-rushing suction of flagging will. She fought back as she'd learned to fight off Desdinda's attacks. She'd banish the ghost here and now.
Sweat ran into her eyes, stinging, and her hands became slippery. Once her feet swung free, and she clung to the rope listening to the sob of her breathing. If she let go,

she'd be nearly cut in half by the safety rope around her waist. Then her foot found a crevice, and warm hands reached down to roll her onto a ledge.
"Good climb," said Prey. "Here comes Gibson."
Panting, she lay on the edge, looking down into occluded air. She could only see three lightsticks. The fourth was a mere blur, and there were nine or ten. "The storm's worse."