"Norton, Andre - Daybreak - 2250 A. D." - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

head was a restraint she half resented.

Lura loved freedom. What service she gave was of her own choosing, after the manner of her kind.
He had been so proud two years ago when the most beautifully marked kitten of Kanda's last litter
had shown such a preference for his company. One day Jarl himself--the Star Captain --had commented
on it. How that had raised Fors' hopes--but nothing had come of the incident, only Lura herself. He
rubbed his hot cheek against the furry head raised to his. She made again the little questioning
sound deep in her throat. She knew his unhappiness.

There was no sign of sunrise. Instead black clouds were gathering above the bald top of the Big
Knob. It would be a stormy day and those below would keep within shelter. The moisture of the mist
had become a drizzle and Lura was manifestly angry at his stubborness in not going indoors. But if
he went into any building of the Eyrie now it would be in surrender--a surrender to the loss of the
life he had been born to lead, a surrender to all the whispers, the badge of shameful failure, to
the stigma of being mutant--not as other men. And he could not do that--he couldn't!

If Langdon had stood before the Council last night-- Langdonl He could remember his father so
vividly, the tall strong body, the high-held head with its bright, restless, seeking eyes above a
tight mouth and sharp jaw. Only--Langdon's hair had been safely dark. It was from his unknown
Plainswoman mother that Fors had that too fair hair which branded him as one apart.

Langdon's shoulder bag with its star badge hung now in the treasure room of the Star Hall. It had
been found with his battered body on the site of his last battle. A fight with the Beast Things
seldom ended in victory for the mountaineers.

He had been on the track of a lost city when he had been killed. Not a "blue city," still
forbidden to men if they wished to live, but a safe place without radiation which could be looted
for the advantage of the Eyrie. For the hundredth time Fors wondered if his father's theory
concerning the tattered bit of map was true--if a safe city did lie somewhere to the north on the
edge of a great lake, ready and waiting for the man lucky and reckless enough to search it out.

"Ready and waiting--" Fors repeated the words aloud. Then his hand closed almost viciously on
Lura's fur. She growled warningly at his roughness, but he did not hear her.


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Why--the answer had been before him all alongl Perhaps five years ago he could not have tried
it--perhaps this eternal waiting and disappointment had been for the best after all. Because now he
was ready--he knew it! His strength and the ability to use it, his knowledge and his wits were all
ready.

No light yet showed below. The clouds were prolonging the night. But his time of grace was short,
he would have to move fast! The bow, the filled quiver, the sword, were hidden between two rocks.
Lura crawled in beside them to wait, his unspoken suggestion agreeing with her own desires.

Fors crept down the twisted trail to the Eyrie and made for the back of the Star Hall. The bunks
of the Star Men on duty were all in the forepart of the house, the storage room was almost