"C. L. Moore - Julhi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore C. L)

Come."
Her fingers twined firmly in his, and she stepped forward without hesitation
into the dark. He followed, stumbling over debris, bruising himself against
the broken walls. How far they went he did not know, but the way turned and
twisted and doubled back upon itself, and he had, somehow, the curious idea
that she was not following a course through corridors and passages which she
knew well enough not to hesitate over, but somehow, under the influence of
Juhli 's sorcery, treading a symbolic pattern among the stones, tracing it out
with unerring feet-a witch-pattern that, when it was completed, would open a
door for them which no eyes could see, no hands unlock.
It may have been Julhi who put that certainty in his mind, but he was quite
sure of it as the girl walked on along her intricate path, threading silently
in and out among the unseen ruins, nor was he surprised when without warning
the floor became smooth underfoot and the walls seemed to fall away from about
him, the smell of cold stone vanished from the air. Now he walked in darkness
over a thick carpet, through sweetly scented air, warm and gently moving with
invisible currents. In that dark he was somehow aware of eyes upon him. Not
physical eyes, but a more all-pervading inspection. Presently the humming
began again, swelling through the air and beating in his ears in sweetly
pitched cadences.
"Hm-m-m . . . have you brought me a man from Earth, my Apri? Yes, an Earthman,
and a fine one. I am pleased with you, Apri for saving me this man. I shall
call him to me presently. Until then let him wander, for he can not escape.''
The air fell quiet again, and about him Smith gradually became aware of a
dawning light. It swelled from no visible source, but it paled the utter dark
to a twilight through which he could see tapestries and richly glowing columns
about him, and the outlines of the girl Apri standing at his side. The
twilight paled in turn, and the light grew strong, and presently he stood in
full day among the queer, rich furnishings of the place into which he had
come.
He stared round in vain for signs of the way they had entered. The room was a
small cleared space in the midst of a forest of shining pillars of polished
stone. Tapestries were stretched between some of them, swinging down in
luxuriant folds. But as far as he could see in all directions the columns
reached away in diminishing aisles, and he was quite sure that they had not
made their way to this place through the clustering pillars. He would have
been aware of them. No, he had stepped straight from Vonng's stonestrewn ruins
upon this rug which carpeted the little clear space, through some door
invisible to him.
He turned to the girl. She had sunk upon one of the divans which stood between
the columns around the edge of the circular space. She was paler than the
marble, and very lovely, as he had known she would be. She had the true
Venusian's soft, dark, sidelong eyes, and her mouth was painted coral, and her
hair swept in black, shining clouds over her shoulders. The tight-swathed
Venusian robe clung to her in folds of rose-red velvet, looped to leave one
shoulder bare, and slit, as all Venusian's women's garments are^ to let one
leg flash free with every other step. It is the most flattering dress
imaginable for any woman to wear, but Apri needed no flattery to make her
beautiful. Smith's pale eyes were appreciative as he stared.
She met his gaze apathetically. All rebellion seemed to have gone out of her,