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

throng, I seemed to see small bits of celestial blueтАж I turned to Khi-Rehm,
on my other side.
тАЬDid I see blue butterflies?тАЭ
 The Khi nodded. тАЬWe found them in our travels about the dimensions
and we brought back a few to seed our world. You can see that we are
working to make it aesthetically pleasing.тАЭ A feeling that closely resembled
a chuckle emanated from him, her, or it. I could never be quite certain,
though I always get a strong feeling of the feminine from the Khi.
But Khi-Lohm interrupted with a sharp gesture. I focused upon the
Ginli and noted with dismay that one of them was approaching a tree that
drooped gracefully above the trail. He had his flameblade in his hand and
destruction written all over him. His companions stamped along after him
with uninterrupted zeal.
тАЬOh, no!тАЭ I gasped. The removal of any part of the valleyтАЩs components
would make a subtle wrongness in the landscape. But Khi-Lohm touched
my elbow and gestured toward Lime and Owl, who seemed to be engaged
in some weird pattern of ritual gestures.
They stood together a little apart from the stone formation, facing
toward the Ginli. They seemed to be folding something, very slowly and
precisely. Something that was either invisible or nonexistent. They worked
in unison, bringing together opposite corners of whatever it was, making
partial rolls, then doing the entire thingтАФor non-thingтАФinto a small parcel
that brought their hands close together.
I glanced back at the Ginli, as the Varlian finished their activity. The
sky quivered, the bright scene winked briefly. And the Ginli were no longer
there. The tree arched over the road, the sunlight brought the grass to
fiery brilliance, but there were no Ginli there at all.
тАЬWhat happened to them?тАЭ I asked Khi-Sang. тАЬAre they dead? How did
the Varlian do that?тАЭ
тАЬThey folded them away,тАЭ said her voice in my head. тАЬThat is how it was
done. Turn, now, and look toward the western ridges.тАЭ
I gazed across the wide valley that rose in a smooth curve toward the
hills. Light and color danced together so as to dazzle the eye, but I shaded
my gaze with both hands and stared along the full length of the track that
crossed the valley and zigzagged threadwise up the distant ridges. Halfway
up the slope I could see motion, and it worked itself out into a somewhat
disorganized group of gray-clad dots. Their proud and stamping gait had
degenerated into milling. Those in front seemed to be turning in their
tracks, while those behind seemed uncertain whether to walk over their
leaders or to stop where they were. The sun glinted on flameblades held at
all angles, instead of at the regulation slant over the right shoulder.
I looked around. Lime and Owl were watching the confusion with
excessively smug looks on their green-furred faces. The Khi were
glimmering visibly, even in the glare of sunlight that bathed us all. It
occurred to me that one sort of light-emission might well stand in for
what would be a chuckle in my kind.
тАЬThey folded them away,тАЭ repeated Khi-Sang. I began, dimly, to
understand. Away meant away, in a literal, physical sense. But how in
tunket was the folding done? IтАЩd never dreamed that such things were
anything except superstition.