"Andre Norton - Darkness and Dawn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

not be observed from below. Water boiled in his pan and he went through the ordeal of
redressing the gash in his leg. The salve was working, for the flesh was sore and stiff but
it was clean and without infection, and the edges were already closing, though
undoubtedly he would be scarred for the rest of his life.
Lura made no move to go hunting, although she must have been hungry. In fact, since
she had skirted the crater she had kept close to him, and now she lay beside the fire,
staring into the flames broodingly. He did not urge her to go out. Lura was more
woodswise than any man could hope to be and if she did not choose to hunt there was
good reason for her decision. Fors only wished that she could reveal to him the exact
nature of the thing she both hated and feared. That hatred and fear came through to him
when their minds held fleeting touch, but the creature which aroused such emotions
remained a secret.
So they went hungry to bed since Fors determined to use what was left of the corn to
bind the mare to him. He kept the fire burning low for he did not want to lie in the dark
here where there were things beyond his knowledge.
For a time he listened for the drumming of the night before. He fully expected to hear
it again. But the night was still. It had stopped raining at last, and he could hear insects in
the grass outside. There was the murmur of a breeze through the foliage on the hill.
It made Fors uneasy, that faint sad soughing. Lura was not asleep either. He sensed
her restlessness even before he heard the pad of her paws and saw her move toward the
door. He crawled after her, trying to spare his leg. She had halted at the outer portico of
the building and was looking down into the blackness of the ruined city. Then he saw
what held herтАФa pin point of red to the northтАФthe telltale flicker of flame!
So there was other life here! Plainsmen for the most part kept clear of the ruinsтАФin
memory of the old days when radiation killed. And the Beast ThingsтАФdid they possess
the secret of fire? No man knew how much or how little they had in the way of
intelligence or perverted civilization.
The urge to get the mare, to crawl up on her back and cross the rubble to that distant
fire, was strong. Fire and companionship in this place of the restless deadтАФthey pulled at
Fors now.
But before he so much as filled his lungs again he heard itтАФa low chorus of yapping,
barking, howling which rose higher and higher to a frenzied bedlam. Lura's hair was stiff
under his hand. She hissed and snarled, but she did not stir. The cries were coming from
some distanceтАФfrom the direction of the fire. Whatever manner of beast made them had
been drawn by that.
Fors shuddered. There was nothing he could do to aid the fire maker. Long before he
could find his slow way through the ruins the end would have come. And nowтАФnowтАФ
there was only blackness down there! The flicker of friendly red was gone!

5
The City On The Lake
Fors dragged himself out into the morning sun. Although he had slept poorly, he was
content that his wound was healing. And, after he once got to his feet, he managed better,
being able without too much effort to take the mare out to graze on the hillside. Lura had
been on duty before he roused, as the body of a plump turkey laid on the floor by the
remains of the fire testified. He broiled it and ate, knowing all the time that when he was
done he must mount and ride across the shattered town searching out the site of that fire
which had vanished in the night.
And he did not want to take that ride. Because he did not want to, he finished quickly,
gathering up his supplies with nervous haste. Lura came back and sat in the broad beam