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

the branches. Without, that is, the impetus lent by the white-fanged beast
that had sent me into the trees to begin with.
I need not have worried. As we approached a ladder-like tangle of living
vine was lowered for my use. The pint-sized young ones sprinkled among
the group about me scampered up it gleefully, and I realized that the very
young and the very old must use this way habitually. With a grin at Lime,
I accepted the helpful vine and made my way up the swaying mass, being
careful not to dislodge any of my fellow travelers by awkwardness. Lime
flowed up the nearest tree and waited for me about two-thirds of the way
between ground and treetops.
Emerging onto the branch beside him, I found that I could now see for
miles across the forest. Though I hadnтАЩt realized it, we must have climbed
slightly but steadily all the way we had come. Now we stood in a tall tree
on a ridge of land that overlooked a vista of many miles to east and south
and north, as well as a shorter distance toward the west. I could see,
glimmering on the edge of vision, the arm of the large lake or small sea
that I had seen the day I arrived. Those eastward reaches were now
striped with purple shadow. I could define clearly the rolls of land that we
had crossed, unknowingly, in the treetops. As we gazed backward along
our trail, a Ginli scoutship shot across the sky, a glint of silver against the
deepening blue.
I pointed along its trail. Lime grunted. He made a gesture with his
green-furred paw that was so accurate and insulting a caricature of the
Ginli that I choked with laughter. Then and there I knew that, even if they
had been the meat-animals of the Ffryll, the Varlian were as human as I.
Only fully rational people with a sound sense of the ridiculous could have
summed up the Ginli with a single sweep of the hand.
But now Lime was tugging at my sleeve and gesturing toward one of the
dwellings hanging just above the spot where we stood. I nodded and
followed him to an opening. There a lightly smaller Varlian, whom I took
to be Mrs. Lime, met us and asked me in with great courtesy and no
words. But entering proved to be impossible. IтАЩm no giant, but a house
hung like an oriole-nest with a set-in solid floor and already containing
Lime, Mrs. Lime, and three little Limes was pretty fully occupied. There
just wasnтАЩt room, even if the hole that was the doorway hadnтАЩt been six
sizes too small.
This caused some consternation among my new friends and would-be
hosts. They retired to a huddle to discuss ways and means. As bursts of
machine-gun Varlian flew past my ears, I found myself able to sort out a
word, here and there. I felt that practice might well return to me some
command of the language. With a bit of slowing down, I just might
eventually be able to converse with Lime and his people.
After a bit the huddle broke up. Lime and his wife, with apologetic
gestures, scurried away across the trees, while the young ones retired into
the house. There their frantic activity made the whole structure bulge and
swing in an intoxicated fashion. As I watched, I saw a hole appear in one
side of the wall. Dexterous paws rapidly enlarged the opening, weaving
back into the wall any loose ends of vine and grass.
Before I could get my wits together, I found myself faced with a door
large enough to admit me. When I looked around, Lime and Mrs. Lime