"Andre Norton - Brother To Shadows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

The brush he broke off, or tore from its frail rooting in the pavement chinks, to afford
him fuel for his small fire. As he worked to gather that the snow thickened, becoming
more and more of a concealing curtain, and he knew that his impulse to night here had
been right.

At last he settled in the small space he had made as stormtight as he could, but he felt no
desire for sleep. Instead he knew the alertness of a scout in an enemy territory, his
hearing, his sight, every sense he had reaching out to pick up the small hint of something
which was not of wind, or snow, or natural to this ancient place.

For he could feel it more and more; it was like an itch he could not scratch because he did
not know its source. There was that here which was notтАФ Not what? Jofre chewed upon
that question and found no answer.

He set out his sentries at the entrance to his burrow. The portion of supplies he allowed
himself was halved and he chewed carefully a long time before he swallowed each
mouthful, as if that would stretch it to satisfy his hunger.

What clung here? Were there indeed bases to old superstition and an abandoned Lair still
held by the spirits of the last Master and his lieutenants? Without knowing that he did it,
Jofre pulled the staff he had found across his knees as he sat cross-legged, was rubbing
his right hand along the shaft, his fingers tracing the runes set there to identify the armory
from which it had come. Suddenly he was aware there was a warmth in the shaft which
did not spread from but rather to his moving hand. And then there was a sudden sharp
shift in the staff, which had certainly not come by his will or from any movement he had
made.

"SsaahhтАФ" Jofre was so startled from his carefully maintained calm that he hissed that
aloud. What he was experiencingтАФyes, it was certainly that which he had heard tell ofтАФ
had once seen demonstratedтАФand that by the Master on a scouting trip.

The half-broken weapon he had found on the rocks below was issha pointing! Issha? But
the fact that this Lair was abandoned meant that there was no issha hereтАФ nor was he a
Master to channel the power. YetтАФthis was happening!

In his now loosened grasp that shaft was pointing outward toward the snow. A long-set
trap? He had also heard tales of such. Some of the Masters were rumored to have powers
far beyond those of common men. He had dared to invade the accursedтАФwas he now
being drawn to the punishment for his impudence?

Because, Jofre also realized, he could not resist. He must carry through whatever action
the weapon now urged. Loosing his knife for his other hand, he crawled out into the
open, remaining there for an instant or two in the half crouch of Ward-the-attack-in-the-
night.

Only the snow. Nothing moved through it or against the drifts it was building around the
ruined walls. But the shaft was swinging in his grip with vigor, as if he were being pulled
by a determined force on the other end. Now he was facing again the hall door.

"By the blood oath Brothers.