"Roger Taylor - Nightfall 1 - Farnor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Taylor Roger)

He found himself walking along quite a distinctive trail.

It was a lot of blood for a rabbit.
He bent down and pulled something that had snagged on a gorse bush.

And that wasnтАЩt rabbitтАЩs fur . . .

His face wrinkled in distress. He was going to find a sheep. One that might perhaps have injured itself.
But that was his head talking; his stomach was beginning to tell him something else.

And it was correct. He was at the end of his search: the remains of a sheep, its body rent open and its
exposed entrails scattered recklessly about. In obscene contrast to the stark stillness of the animal, the
gaping wound was crawlingly alive with flies, a shifting shroud glittering iridescent blue-black in the bright
sunlight.

As Farnor approached, the writhing mass disintegrated and rose up in front of him in a noisy black
cloud. He flailed his arms angrily and pointlessly.

Then, as if released by the departure of the flies, the smell struck him and he took an involuntary step
backwards. He swore at his reaction. HeтАЩd seen enough dead animals and encountered enough smells in
his days.

Except this was peculiarly awful.

And the damage to the sheep . . .

It was тАУ had been тАУ a good-sized animal, certainly no weak and ailing stray. And there was a lot of it
missing. He had seen worried sheep before, although he had been much younger, but this seemed to be
different. Whatever had killed it must indeed have been large and powerful.

Farnor looked around to see if there was any other sign the creature had left that would help his father
and the villagers in the hunt they must surely now mount.

But there was nothing. Not even an indication as to which way the creature had gone, no footprints on
the short grass, no damage to the nearby shrubbery, nothing.

Farnor was not unduly disappointed. His earlier, dramatic flight of fancy about the animal was now far
from his mind. Dreamer he might be from time to time, but the hard-headed farm helper within him knew
enough about the reality of wild animals not to wish to meet such a one as this alone, and so far from
help. He must get back and tell his father what he had seen.

A sudden sound made him start. He turned round quickly, his heart racing.

The sound came again.

Something was coming through the shrubbery towards him. Something large.

Chapter 2

Wide-eyed and fearful, Farnor stepped back and swung his staff up to point at the rustling shrubbery.