"Ardath Mayhar - Khi to Freedom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mayhar Ardath)

into the leaves. Then I recalled myself. The Khi hum rose in my head
purposefully, and I moved forward again, very slowly so as not to startle
the being.
Very quietly, I touched its arm and said, тАЬCome. I will take you to the
Khi. You mustnтАЩt stay in the forest alone, for those stupid creatures will
surely find you if you remain so low in the branches.тАЭ
It didnтАЩt understand my words, of course, but it was evidently an
intelligent being and it came without protest. As it was obviously not
made for traveling through the treetops, I descended to the ground and
started out toward the Home. My mate waited and would be beginning to
worry; and I wanted one night of rest in my own hammock before I started
the long journey back to the valley of the Khi with this rather awkward
and ignorant creature.
It traveled well aground, I had to admit. Its long thick legs out-stepped
mine in distance, though with effort I managed to stay ahead. Ground
travel is, however, a thing that my kind does seldom. Though I knew the
rules and the dangers of such a course, I had grown careless. Only a
warning from my companion gave me time to leap clearтАж one of those
miserable serpents that the Khi brought into our world for its strange
coloration almost fanged me as I crossed a stream. That serpent gives a
messy death.
We had been lucky to avoid predators thus far. As I focused the will of
the Khi upon the snake, I realized that we must take to the trees, awkward
as that would be for this creature.
And it was terribly awkward. My youngest at one year of age was
infinitely more skilled at getting about the treetops. The beingтАЩs furless
skin oozed moisture as it struggled through the branches, slipped upon
brown-mossy bark, tried to follow me hand-over-hand in the crossovers.
From time to time it would call to me in its deep, booming voice, and I
would come back and sit beside it as it panted and rested. I could
understand something of its problem. Its far greater weight must put
terrible strain on its arms as it swung across the gaps. Its hands had not
the unbreakable grip that is built into mine. Its feet were worse than
uselessтАФeven when he removed the coverings from them, the toes proved
to be short and without any capability of grasping.
Worst of all was its lack of path-sense. I had taken for granted all my life
that any sentient creature could measure ahead of itself a sure route
through the branches. This one was obviously bright, the effort it was
putting forth was easy to see, but it had no eye for sound growth, no
instinct for dead-end ways. Time after time I had to rescue it from
dilemmas and lead it back to the good ways that I could see without
thinking about them. At last I realized that I must act as a guide for him,
giving him a way to follow.
It took him a time or two of getting off the track and being scolded
before he understood that I had taken on the services of guide. Then he
did make better time. I could, of course, have come and gone four times
while he was making the distance once, but it was not too bad considering
his inability.
The People did take to him. My own young adopted him as one of them,
though he was so huge and so brown and so clumsy. The Elders, too, were