"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 30 - Symbol of Terra" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

"I walked."

"From where?"

Dumarest said, "That I'll tell Chenault when I meet him. And I'm going
to stay here until I do. Tell him that and tell him we have mutual friends.
Edelman Pryor for one. Tayu Shakira for another." He saw her face alter.
"You know Shakira?"

"IтАФI'm not sure."

"Shakira of the circus of Chen Wei? You know him. Tell Chenault he
sent me to him. Tell him now."

"I can't." She looked at the sunlight painting the mountain, the level of
mounting darkness beneath it. The warning of approaching night which
already filled the valley with dusty shadows. "Not yet but soon. I promise.
You'll have to wait." Rising, she added. "If you want to leave do it now. If
you see Tama and upset him you'll never leave this valley alive."


He came when the sun gilded the topmost peak of the mountain,
turning the ice and snow which crusted it into an effulgent flame.
Deceptive warmth. It would soon yield to the star-shot indifference of
night. Dumarest heard the sigh as the great doors swung open, and rose
from the bench to stand facing it and the figure which came toward him,
silhouetted against the light filling the hall.

"Dumarest? Earl Dumarest?"

"Chenault?"

He was tall, broad, thick around the waist. A man old as a tree grows
old, as gnarled, as strong. The lines engraved on his face gave him a hard,
emotionless appearance, one belied by his sudden smile, teeth flashing
white between drawn-back lips. His eyes in their sunken sockets held a
bright awareness.

"I'm Chenault. The girl said we had mutual friends."

"That's right."
 "Edelman Pryor, for one." Chenault tilted his head a little, the thick
mass of gray hair higher than Dumarest's own. "Tell me about him."

"Old, dry, dusty. He deals or dealt in old books, maps, logs, statuettes,
legends."

"Statuettes?"

"He gave me one. A small thing he'd had for years. You may have seen