"Jack Vance - Tschai 3 - The DirDir" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

sheafs of curses indited on red and green paper. Above flew a dozen fantastic kites, which the old
Dugbo manipulated to produce a wan wailing music. He proffered Reith an amulet, which Reith
refused to buy. The necromancer spat epithets and caused his kites to dart and shriek discords.

Reith moved on, into the Dugbo encampment proper. Girls wearing scarves and flounced skirts of
black, old rose and ocher solicited Zhurvegs, Lokhars, Serafs, but taunted the prudish Niss who
stalked silently past, heads out-thrust, noses like scythes of polished bone. Beyond the
encampment lay the open plain and the far hills, black and gold in the light of Carina 4269.

A Dugbo girl approached Reith, jangling the silver ornaments at her waist, smiling a gap-
toothed grin. "What do you seek out here, my friend? Are you weary? This is my tent; enter,
refresh yourself."

Reith declined the invitation and stepped back before her fingers or those of her younger
sister could flutter near his pouch.

"Why are you reluctant?" sang the girl. "Look at me! Am I not graceful? I have polished my
limbs with Seraf wax; I am scented with haze-water; you could do far worse!"

"No doubt whatever," said Reith. "Still..."

"We will talk together, Adam Reith. We will tell each other of many strange matters."

"How do you know my name?" demanded Reith.

The girl waved her scarf at the younger girls, as if at insects. "Who at Smargash does not know
Adam Reith, who strides abroad like an Ilanth prince, and his mind always full of thoughts?"

"I am notorious then?"

"Oh, indeed. Must you go?"

"Yes. I have an engagement." Reith continued on his way. The girl watched after him with an odd
half-smile, which Reith, looking over his shoulder, found disconcerting.

A few hundred yards further along, Anacho approached from a side-lane. "The man dyed like a
Lokhar remained at the inn. For a period you were followed by a young woman dressed as a Dugbo. In
the encampment she accosted you, then followed no more."

"Strange," muttered Reith. He looked up and down the street. "No one follows us now?"

"No one is visible. We might well be under observation. Turn about, if you will."

Anacho ran his long white fingers over the fabric of Reith's jacket. "So I suspected." He
displayed a small black button. "And now we know who tracks you. Do you recognize this?"

"No. But I can guess. A tell-tale."

"A Dirdir adjunct for hunting, used by the very young or the very old to guide them after their
quarry."