"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 17 - The Mountains of Brega" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

green and brown like camouflage suits of a Home Dimension army, and moccasin-like sandals. One had
her tunic tied by the sleeves around her neck, and was bare to the waist.
All eight carried a short sword and dagger in their belts, and seven carried bows and quivers slung
over their backs. The eighthтАФthe apparent leaderтАФcarried a spear with a tuft of gold feathers tied
around it. All eight also carried bulging brown leather sacks slung over their backs.
 If Blade had doubted that this was a hunting party, he had no doubts now. But he still wasn't sure
what they were hunting, and he still didn't want it to be him. It was also a little unusual for a hunting party
to be made up entirely of women.
Unless this was a dimension or at least a people where women ruled. That was a distinct possibility,
and not a particularly welcome one. Female-dominated societies were not necessarily more dangerous or
hostile than male-dominated ones, but they were hardly ever less so, either. As far as war and cutthroat
politics were concerned, Blade knew women were completely equal!
The eight women passed below Blade and out into the clearing visible on his left. Now he had to
raise his head slightly and shift position in order to see them clearly. He did both reluctantly, not at all
inclined to accidentally surprise the women and wind up punctured by their arrows before he could
explain himself.
The women were slinging the brown leather sacks off their backs now, opening them, and shaking
out the contents onto the ground. There were weighted cords, things that looked like rolled-up nets, small
axes that winked in the sunlight, and several large jars. The leader began pulling the stoppers out of the
jars, and a powerful odor of something rich and sweet filled the clearing. Even up on his branch, Blade
found it almost unpleasantly strong.
It did not appear to bother the women at all. Now they took off their moccasins and began moving
barefooted about the clearing. It was obvious that they were trying not to disturb even the smallest leaf.
Carefully they picked up the jars and set them in a wide circle that covered most of the clearing. Then,
one by one, they slipped behind the trees around the clearing. Blade's trained eyes saw faint flickers of
movement in the shade and the greenery as they settled down to wait. The trap was laid and baited. Now
there was nothing for either Blade or the women to do but wait for the quarry to appear. Blade shifted
position slightly, away from a branch that was digging into his ribs.
Time passed. The light from above no longer gilded the needles so brightly or came down at quite the
same angle. The day was moving on. Sweat ran down Blade's body and attracted small insects. All
whined maddeningly, and some of them bit or stung. High above, the chrrrreeek of a large bird or
tree-dwelling animal sounded through the forest.
Then the breeze became stronger, making the needles whisper more loudly and the branch sway
more. It dried the sweat from Blade's skin and drove the insects away, but it also forced him to hold on
harder. And it suggested that the coming night might be chillyтАФtoo chilly for the comfort or safety of a
naked man. But even so, Blade still did not care to risk unnecessarily the arrows of the huntresses below.
He shifted again to ease cramped limbs, listening to the branch creak under him and smelling the odor of
whatever was in the bait pots.
Then once again he caught a flicker of movement off to the right. There was something about the
movement suggesting raw, careless, animal strength, rather than the stalking pace of the women.
Whoever or whatever was approaching was certainly making no effort to keep quiet. Blade heard a
steadily swelling chorus of grunts, growls, and half-verbalized mutterings. He began to hear heavy
footsteps and a continuous cracking of twigs and rustle of leaves.
Then Blade saw the approaching party through a gap in the curtain of needles. There were four of
them, and Blade's first startled question to himself wasтАФman or ape? Certainly they had shaggy pelts
more like a gorilla's than anything else, large, knob-knuckled hands on unnaturally long arms, and low
foreheads with massive ridges of bone over the eyes. But they walked erect, occasionally turning their
heads from side to side to sniff the air. They communicated by means of real speech, not just animal
growls. And each carried a stout club slung by a leather thong from a leather belt around his waist. These
men were Neanderthal level or perhaps even more primitive, definitely far below whatever level the