"Morgan Llywelyn - Druids" - читать интересную книгу автора (Llywelyn Morgan)

uplifted arms supported the sky.

The clamor of human habitation must not be allowed to disturb
me atmosphere of so sacred a place, so the Fort of the Grove had
been built at some distance from the ridge, but close to the river
which was our water supply. Upon leaving the fort I fixed my eyes
on the dark mass of the ridge against the slightly paler sky and
settled info a ground-covering trot.

I had gone over halfway when I heard the first wolf howl.

In my excitement I had forgotten about the wolves.

The terrible winter had deprived them as it had us, making
game scrawny and scarce. The wolves were hunting closer than
ever to the settlements of men, seeking meat.

I was meat.

I began to run.

Only an idiot, my head tardily informed me, would have left
the fort in the middle of the night with no weapon and no body-
guard. But youngsters hold only one thought at a time. Years of

8 Morgan Llywelyn

study are required before one can think, as druids do, of seven or
nine things at a time.

I might have no years left me.

I did not run; I flew.

If I could only reach the grove I thought, in my panic, that I
would be safe. The grove was sacred, everyone knew that. Even
the animals of the forest were said to revere it; surely the wolves
would not kill me there.

Surely.

At fifteen, one believes any amount of nonsense.

I had run until I thought my lungs would burst. Frozen grass
crunched under my feet. Another howl sounded, closer than the
first. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would leap into
my throat and choke me. Could a person die that way? I did not
know, but I could imagine. I was always imagining.

The ground lifted, the ridge rose before me, black against black.