"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 25 - Torian Pearls." - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

Another three hundred yards, and the water began to deepen again as the ground sloped away under
him. Blade could clearly see his goal to the west now. It was unmistakably a hilly, wooded shoreline. It
seemed no more than three or four miles away, although it was hard to judge distances in this land. A
long swim in the darkness, but worth it-Blade wanted dry land under him before he stopped for the night.

He covered another hundred yards, then the light was gone from the sky and the ground from under his
feet. He started swimming again, looking up at the sky to see if there were any stars he could use to guide
himself. There were none, and no moon either. Fortunately Blade's sense of direction was excellent. He
focused his mind and body totally on swimming in a straight line and kept moving.

How long he swam in that state of concentration and how much distance he covered, he never knew. He
only knew that in time he saw the land begin to rise ahead of him, dark enough to stand out even against
the dark water. He also knew something much less pleasant. He was no longer alone in the water.
Something large was swimming purposefully along behind him. He could hear the ripple of water around
it, an occasional splash, and the sound of slow heavy breathing.

Blade fought down a moment's feeling that turning around would make the creature launch its attack,
stopped, and looked behind him. He saw a broad head rising from the water and a bony crest rising
above the head. Two eyes shone dimly on either side of a long snout. The snout lifted and Blade heard
another puff of breath. He also saw the creature's jaws open to display two rows of teeth. He was
relieved to see that the teeth were broad and blunt, not long and sharp. In spite of its size the creature
was a plant eater. That meant it wouldn't be interested in him as a meal.

It was interested in him, though, and it seemed to be a good forty feet long. Something that big could be
dangerous out of curiosity or even playfulness. Blade turned and started swimming again. Behind him he
heard the steady breathing and splashing as the creature did the same.

The naked man and the scaled creature swam slowly and steadily toward the land. Blade took great
care to swim smoothly and steadily, with no jerky movements the creature might misinterpret. The teeth
in its jaws might be blunt, but those jaws were powerful enough to crush his bones if they ever closed on
him.

After too many long minutes, Blade again felt his feet strike oozy mud. He knew he could move faster if
he kept swimming. He swam on, fighting the temptation to put on a last burst of speed and get out of the
water. The creature might be amphibious, quite able to follow him into the shallows or even a short
distance onto the land.

At last the water grew too shallow for swimming. Blade stopped and turned, resting on hands and knees
with only his head above water as he looked back at the creature. It was still on his trail, floating
submerged up to the eyes, apparently stopped.

Slowly Blade rose to his feet. Even more slowly he turned toward the land and started walking. He tried
to walk without making a splash or even a ripple.

Foot by foot Blade moved toward the land. The water crept down his thighs until it reached his knees.
Now he could take longer strides without making any noise. A dozen more steps should have him out of
the water entirely. One, two, three, four-

On the fifth step Blade's right foot came down on a submerged root. Before he could react it broke