"Tepper, Sheri S - A Plague Of Angels - plangel4" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

Later, the thought crossed CummyNup's mind that if Abasio came back, CummyNup might no longer be Captain. He worried at it only momentarily before setting the thought aside. Basio, he told himself, was his friend.

In the woods along the Big River, Wide Mountain Mother camped in the midst of the warriors of Artemisia. Though the night had turned chili, the campfires had been allowed to burn down except for those few at the perimeter of the camp, where members of the Owl and Weasel societies stood sentry.
It was one of these, Black Owl, who heard the voice in the night. "Not eating you," it said in a softly furry voice. "Halt!" cried Black Owl. "Who goes there?"
"Not eating you," repeated the voice. "Not throwing spear."
Black Owl thought this over. After a time, he swallowed, lowered his arm, and said, "Very well. Not throwing spear."
He held it, however, at the ready, as a bulky form came out of the darkness and into the farther edge of the firelight. It took considerable self-control to
hold it then, for what sat in the firelight was unmistakably a bear."Chief woman," said Bear. "Go get."
"Wide Mountain Mother?" asked Black Owl. "You want her to come here?"
"I go, spears," said Bear. "She come. No spears."
Black Owl jiggled from foot to foot, wondering what to do next. "You're going to wait for me'/" he asked at last, rather plaintively.
Bear grunted what sounded like an assent, and Black Owl took off at top speed for the tent at the center of the camp, the one occupied by Wide Mountain Mother and half a dozen of her eldest daughters.
Considering that she had been asleep when he arrived, Mother returned with him in an extremely short time. With her came a group of daughters,


374 Sheri S. Tepper

each of them armed and all of them suspecting a trick. When Bear greeted them with "Not eating you," they immediately took off in several directions to find out who was pulling the strings.
Wide Mountain Mother herself merely sat down and stared at him. "You talk," she said at last.
"So do you," said Bear in a grumpy voice. "You're the one Arakny wrote about," she said. "Possible," said Bear. ~'I know her." "You bring me word of her'?"
"I bring word. Move now. Go that way." He pointed with a large paw.
"Up road. Sneaky, like coyotes. Morning, you fight!""Fight whom? For what reason'?"
"Fight dead things. For the sake of living things."
A long silence.
"Is that all?" she called. "Is my daughter well?"
She received only a retreating grunt in answer. In a few moments, the daughters returned to say no person had been found. The Bear had been talking on his own. Wide Mountain Mother had already figured that out.

North of the Place of Power, a certain being sat upon a crag and considered themes of life and death, legend and history, good and evil. Beneath and around the large being, others of its kind and related kinds assembled to await the morning.
"This affair reminds me of long ago," said the large being upon the crag to a smaller being nearby. "When men carried swords of bronze and lived short but mythy lives."
The smaller being scratched a mosquito bite and did not answer. Its own memory did not extend that far.

West of the Place of Power, Hero leaned upon his lance and peered toward the wall. Around him burned the campfires of his fellow Heroes. There were a good many of them, more than he had thought there would be.
"We've been talking," said another Hero, coming up behind him. "Of what?"
"Of proper ways to kill these things. We agree we aren't likely to survive the attack, but we feel we should make some effort to do as much damage
as possible.""Surely."
"One of the things we've come up with is earplugs."


PLAGUE OF ANGELS

375

"Earplugs."
"The walkers have this sound they make. It's crippling. But with earplugs, one can stand it."
"Earplugs and a pure heart," said Hero.
"Of course," said his colleague. "And a pure heart."

South of the Place of Power, Coyote and Bear met by appointment.
"One thing you can say for humans," commented Coyote, "they lead complicated lives. Very interesting."
"You say," said Bear, breathing heavily. It had been a long run up the canyon, and he was winded. "Did you see her?"