"Colin Wilson - Spider World 01 - The Desert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilson Colin)

smoke. Ulf kicked the burning fragments into the lair, then gave a leap sideways as the scorpion rushed
out, its sting poised to strike. The giant pincers, like those of an enormous lobster, made it clumsy
compared to the man. Veig rushed forward with more burning grass, which he hurled between the
pincers, swerving aside to avoid the top-heavy rush. It hissed with agony, tried to turn instinctively
towards its lair, and was headed off by Ulf waving a burning torch. Niall knew what he had to do. He
plunged into the lair, paused a moment amongst the empty shells of beetles, then snatched up his sister
and ran with her into the daylight. The scorpion saw its prey escaping and made a rush at him; Veig
jumped forward and hurled his spear between its pincers. Niall handed the cold, still little body to Siris,
and turned in time to see their enemy scuttling away across the desert. Veig said later that his spear had
destroyed two of its eyes.
It looked as if Mara was dead. The naked, white body was cold and had the peculiar smell of
the scorpion's lair. There was no sign of heartbeat. Yet after two days she began to breathe again, and a
week later was able to drag herself across the floor of the burrow. It took another month for the effects
of the poison to vanish completely. A raised black welt on her shoulder was the only sign of her
encounter with the scorpion.
The fourth wave of spider balloons came an hour later. His father touched his shoulder lightly,
and he realised he had fallen into a light doze. Still secure in the quiescence of drowsiness, he felt the fear
pass over him like a cold wind, and noted that it made the hairs on his arms stand on end. And when the
fear had passed, he reflected that it was stupid of the spiders to do it so often. It allowed the human
beings to become accustomed to it, and taught them how to resist it. The spiders could not be as
intelligent as he had always thought.
The last time was the worst. It happened as dusk was turning the sky a deeper blue. The wind
was dropping, and it seemed unlikely that the spiders would mount another reconaissance. Overhead,
through the roof of the burrow, they heard the scrabbling noise of some large insect; it could be a
scorpion or a tiger beetle, even a camel spider dragging some heavy prey. The sound was a welcome
distraction after hours of silence, and they listened as it moved towards the entrance of the burrow.
Suddenly Veig, who was standing on watch, started. Looking past his head, they saw the balloons, now
within a dozen feet of the floor of the desert, drifting towards them. At the same moment, sand cascaded
through the aperture and the huge lobster claws of the scorpion came into view. This alarmed no one;
they assumed it was passing by in its search for food. But the scorpion stopped, and more sand fell into
the burrow. The flat stone moved, and Niall realised with incredulity that the creature was trying to force
its way in. With the balloons almost overhead, it was the worst thing that could have happened. He could
feel the alarm of the others, amplified by fear that their fear would betray them. For a moment, it looked
as though the spiders had won.
Niall acted involuntarily, without thinking. Ulf's spear was propped against the wall, its head
made of a needle sharp jackal bone. Neither Ulf nor Veig would have dared to use it, in case the burst of
aggressiveness betrayed their presence to the hunters. What Niall did, naturally and spontaneously, was
to close his mind, as if drawing a shutter over his thoughts and feelings. Then he took a long step towards
the entrance, pushed Veig to one side, and struck with all his force between the claws that were enlarging
the entrance. There was a hiss and a blast of a sickening smell. With a lightning reflex, the thing withdrew,
and they could see the nearest balloon, only about a hundred yards away, drifting towards them. Niall
stood there, freezing into stillness, and continued to shield his mind from the probing beam of will-force. It
brushed over him, now so close that he had the illusion he could feel the creature's breath, and its
physical presence. A few seconds later, it was gone. They remained there for another ten minutes or so,
all experiencing the same fear: that the spiders had detected them and would land in the desert and
surround their burrow. As the minutes dragged past, the anxiety receded. Niall thrust his head out of the
burrow and saw the balloons far away, outlined against the red and purple sunset behind the mountains.
The scorpion had also disappeared. The point of the spear was tinged with blood mixed with a white
substance like pus.
Ulf placed one arm round his shoulder and hugged him. "Good boy." The compliment, which Ulf