"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 1 - First Test" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

grip on her branch and swept his feet from under him, then stood on one of his arms.
Another lad grabbed a branch and swung at her; she blocked it with hers, then rammed the length of
wood into his stomach. He doubled over, gasping. Kel shoved him into the third boy. Down they went in
a tumble. When they untangled themselves, they ran. Their comrade also chose to make his escape.
Kel looked around for the sack. The current had tugged the tree limb on which it rested out into the
deeper, faster water at the center of the river. She didn't hesitate, but waded into the water. Kel was a
good swimmer and the river here was fairly shallow. She doubted that whatever small creatures were
struggling in the sack could swim.
Movement on the far bank made her look up. What she saw made her halt, cold water rushing around
her thighs. Something black and strange-looking walked out from under the shelter of the trees. It looked
like a giant furred spider nearly five feet tall, with one difference. The thing had a human head. It stared at
Kel, then grinned broadly to reveal sharp teeth.
Her flesh crawled; hairs stood up on her arms and the back of her neck. Spidren, she thought,
recognizing it from descriptions. Spidrens in our woods.
Like most of the legendary creatures that now prowled the human realms, they were virtually immortal,
immune to disease and old age. They died only when something or someone took pains to kill them. They
fed on animals and human blood. No one could get spidrens to make peace with human beings.
The thing reared up on its back legs, revealing a light-colored shaft at the base of its belly. From it the
spidren squirted a high-flying gray stream that soared into the air over the river. Kel threw herself to one
side, away from the gray stream and the sack she was trying to catch. The stuff was like rope. She
realized it was a web when it fell in a long line across the surface of the water. It had missed her by only a
foot. The spidren bent and snipped the rope off from its belly spinneret with a clawed leg. Swiftly it began
to wind the length of web around another clawed foot. As it dragged through the water, the sticky thing
caught on the cloth sack. The spidren reeled in its catch as a fisherman might pull in a line.
Kel brought the horn up to her mouth. She blew five hard blasts and might have continued to blow until
help came, as the spidren gathered up the sack. It discarded its web with one clawed foot, held the sack
with a second, and reached into it with a third. The beast grinned, its eyes never leaving Kel, as it pulled
out a wet and squirming kitten.
The horn fell from the girl's lips as the spidren looked the kitten over. It smacked its lips, then bit the
small creature in half and began to chew.
Kel screamed and groped on the river bottom with both hands for ammunition. Coming up with a
stone in each fist, she hurled the first. It soared past the spidren, missing by inches. Her next stone caught
it square in the head. It shrieked and began to climb the bluff that overlooked the river to its left, still
holding the sack.
In the distance Kel heard the sound of horns. Help was on its way - for her, but not for those kittens.
She scrabbled for more stones and plunged across the river, battling the water to get to the same shore
as the monster. It continued to climb the rocky face of the bluff until it reached the summit just as Kel
scrambled onto the land.
Once she was on solid ground, she began to climb the bluff, her soaked feet digging for purchase in
soft dirt and rock. Above, the spidren leaned over the edge of the bluff to leer at her. It reached into the
sack, dragged out a second kitten, and began to eat it.
Kel still had a rock in her right hand. She hurled it as hard as she had ever thrown a ball to knock
down a target. It smashed the spidren's nose. The thing shrieked and hissed, dropping the rest of its meal.
Kel's foot slipped. She looked down to find a better place to set it and froze. She was only seven feet
above the water, but the distance seemed more like seventy to her. A roar filled her ears and her head
spun. Cold sweat trickled through her clothes. She clung to the face of the bluff with both arms and legs,
sick with fear.
Leaving its sack on the ground, the spidren threw a loop of web around a nearby tree stump. When it
was set, the creature began to lower itself over the side of the bluff. Its hate-filled eyes were locked on
the girl, whose terror had frozen her in place.