"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest - Child of Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

тАЬI need clothes.тАЭ
 Clothes and food and something to carry it in. Water and a container for that too. A blanket against the
cold of night and coverings for his feet to protect them against the savage terrain. All the things which an
adult had and which he had been denied because he was a child. But he was that no longer. He would
take what he needed and make his way towards the east to live how he could.

A killer, a thief, a bully and a liarтАФa child of Earth.

They followed him. The men of the village eager for fun, for sport, for his agony and death. They had
assembled and sat and drank and talked and listened to the wailing complaints of the crone and her lies
and demands that something be done. Dumarest had always been a little strange, too reserved, too
clever, a little too good at what he attempted. Incidents were remembered, others invented. His victim
had been popular in his careless, drunken fashion and the sight of his corpse created unease. What had
been done once could be done again. Other boys, goaded too far, could remember what Dumarest had
accomplished and try to follow his example. And they could succeed. The stab of a point, the slash of an
edge, the hammer blow of a stoneтАФcould be delivered with such speed and ease.

тАЬKill him!тАЭ demanded the crone. тАЬHe robbed me! Took my things. My blanket and jug and knife. He
stole my knife! He killed my man! You saw him do it! Let him do it! Watched as he beat his head and
face to a pulp. Go and see it. See what he did. Take a good look. Bury himтАФthen go and get the
bastard who did it!тАЭ

A score of them decided it was a good idea. True, the killer had a knife and he might well try to use it,
but he was a boy and they were men and it would be safe enough to track him down, and make him
crawl and beg and plead and scream as they broke his limbs, shriek as they tore out his eyes, moan as
they used fire to sear his threshing flesh.

It would be a thing to remember. Once they had whipped and tormented him into a mewing heap of
lacerated flesh and blackened bone. They would drag him back and hang him on a pole as an example.
Something for all to see and hear if they were careful to leave him alive. A lesson to those who might be
tempted to forget who and what they were and what would happen to them if they did.

тАЬLet's go!тАЭ said a man. He swigged the last of the liquid in his jug. тАЬLet's teach that little bastard a lesson
no one will ever forget!тАЭ

They knew the terrain. They had hunted and roved and scavenged and they knew which direction
Dumarest had taken. Knew, too, that he was young and relatively small and they could make faster
progress. They had no doubt they would catch him. He was starved and weak and would have limited
endurance. Fear would ride with him and terror would make him careless. He could even have made the
mistake that there would be no pursuit. That they would leave him alone. That he could walk away from
his killing as if it had never happened. They would relish reminding him it had.

He learned they were coming. Far back in the distance a bird had risen to wheel and glide away and, by
so doing, had signaled the presence of strangers in its domain. He knew who they had to be and could
guess at their numbers. Guess, too, as to how long they would take to reach his present position. By
dusk, he calculated, studying the sun. Maybe before, but he doubted it. For them dusk would be soon
enough and the darkness of night would give an added zest to what he knew they intended. But it would
also give him an advantage.

Shards rattled from beneath his feet. The rags with which he had bound them protected him from the