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

future within the Eyrie, that he dreamed of standing before the elders of the Council and
proving that he, the rejected mutant, had accomplished what others had been trained for
all their lives long. When he thought of that he was warm deep inside. A new cityтАФthe
one his father had soughtтАФall mapped and explored, ready for the systematic looting of
the EyrieтАФwhat could a man who reported that ask for as a reward? Just about what he
wantedтАФ
Fors went on slowly, afoot now, with the mare trailing him and Lura scouting ahead.
Neither animal appeared to want to stray too far. The sound of a rolling stone, the cries of
the birds, all echoed through the empty buildings eerily. For the first time Fors wished for
a companion of his own breedтАФin a place where only the dead had lain so long it would
be good to call upon the living.
The sun overhead reflected from a shelf in the front part of a shop. Fors swung over a
strip of iron embedded in concrete to investigate. Rings lay there, rows of them, set with
brilliant white stonesтАФdiamonds he guessed. He sorted them out of the dust and litter.
Most of them were too small to fit any of his fingers, but he chose four of the largest
stones to take alongтАФwith some vague idea of surprising the young of the Eyrie. Among
them was one broader band with a deep red gem and this slipped on to his third finger as
if it had been fashioned for it. He turned it around, pleased with the deep crimson shade
of the stone. It was a good omen, discovering it, as if the long dead craftsmen had made it
for him. He would wear it for luck.
But food would be more useful than sparkling stones now. The mare must eat and
they would not find grazing hereabouts. In this section there was only a wild waste of
ruins. He must head out toward the edge of the city if he wanted a real camping place.
Not through the valley of the trains, though. It would be better to measure the extent of
the city by trying to get through it to the opposite sideтАФif he could do that by nightfall.
Fors did not stop to explore any more of the shops, but he made mental notes about
those which might be worth a second visit. It was slow work breaking a trail through the
blocked streets, and the heat reflected back from the buildings raised sweat on his face
and plastered his clothing to him. He had to mount again as his leg began to ache, and the
hollow feeling in his middle grew worse. Lura protestedтАФshe wanted to get away from
this wilderness of stone, into the fields where one could hunt.
Three hours of steady traveling brought them through to the edge of the enchanted
wood, for that was what it seemed. It was a band of living green cutting across the pitiless
heat and barrenness of the ruins. Once it had been a park, but now it arose a true forest
which Lura welcomed with an open meow of delight. The mare whinnied, bursting
through bushes until she came into what was undoubtedly a game trail leading down a
gentle slope. Fors dismounted and let the mare go on, her pace now a trot. They reached
the end of the trail, a lake. The mare stood, nose- and hock-deep, in the green water. Long
red-gold fish swam away from the disturbance she caused.
Fors dropped down on a wide stone and pulled off his boots to dabble his burning feet
in the coolness. There was a breeze across the water that dried his damp body and lifted
the leaves of the wild shrubs around them. He looked across the lake. Opposite him there
was a flight of broad white steps, cracked and moss-grown, and he caught a glimpse of a
building at their head. But that could be explored later. Just now it was good to sit in the
cool. The mare came out of the lake and tore up mouthfuls of the long grass. A duck
quacked and fled from under her hoofs, sailing out on the water, swimming energetically
toward the steps.
The evening was long, the twilight soft about the hidden lake. While there was still
light enough to see Fors ventured into the tall, pillared building at the head of the stairs
and discovered that his luck was still holding. It was a museumтАФone of those treasure