"Douglas Smith - Spirit Dance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Douglas)

"Hmm. So, why does Ed call you Grey Legs?"
I chuckled. "The Cree believe using its name will attract a wolf. So they
call it Grey Legs, Grey Coat, Golden Tooth, Silent One. Ever since I told
him what my name meant, he's called me that, as a joke."
She smiled again. "So he thinks you're a wolf, too."
I grinned back. In the store, I'd been so intent on her aura of the Mark,
I'd overlooked how attractive she was. Gelert liked her too, always a good
sign.
She stared at me. "You are a wolf."
I remained silent.
"What's it like," she asked, "to change, to be that way?"
"You do know, don't you? How?"
"Your friend, Robert. We met during the funerals at the church. Something
about me fascinated him. He kept staring at me."
"Can't say I blame him."
"It wasn't that kind of interest, but thanks," she said smiling. "Anyway,
I knew he was different too, but I didn't know what it was."
She shifted her gaze to the flames. "He was so upset, so sad. He said he
had something to tell me, about me. That something must be added for what
was lost. I didn't understand, but I wasn't afraid of him. Somehow, I knew
I could trust him."
I smiled. That was Robbie -- the size of a grizzly, but women treated him
like a big teddy bear.
"At the cemetery after the burials, we walked together. We found a big
stone just inside the forest, and sat and talked. Well, he talked. I just
listened. He told me of the Herok'a, of how you are a race older than man.
How you each are linked to an animal species."
I nodded. "We have many names. The Cree called us the Herok'a, or Earth
Spirits. They believed my people were ancestrally related to different
animals, similar to totems. We bear traits and abilities of our totem
animal, like keener senses, greater strength." I turned to Gelert. "And we
can command those animals."
Without a word from me, Gelert trotted to my tent and emerged holding a
cup in his mouth. He dropped it in my hand.
"Coffee?" I asked.
She laughed. "I guess house-training Gelert wasn't a problem. Thanks, just
black is fine." She looked serious again. "Robert told me more."
I reached for the coffee pot hanging over the fire. "That we can change
into our totem animals."
She nodded.
"You believed him?"
She took the cup from me. "Pretty well had to. He showed me. He changed."
I gave a low whistle. "He must have been sure about you."
"He said I had the right to know, that I had the Mark."
"Yes. Yes, you do," I said quietly.
"Then I'm one of you?" She leaned forward quickly, spilling coffee onto
the ground.
I shook my head. "No. Not yet anyway. Very few with the Mark ever become
one of the Herok'a. They need assistance. Didn't Robert explain?"
"He had something to do first, something he owed someone. He was going