"Colin Wilson - Spiderworld 03 - The Fortress" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilson Colin)

until his heartbeat returned to normal. His flesh felt sore where the tentacles had
gripped him. Finally, to assist his concentration, he again turned the thought mirror on
his chest. The pain in the back of his head made him feel sick for a moment; then it
passed, and he experienced once more the satisfying sense of being in control of his
body and mind.
If the spiders were advancing towards the river, there was no time to lose. He
approached the embankment with caution and waited for the moon to emerge. When
it did so, it revealed that the great arch of the bridge was surprisingly close, the road
that led towards it empty. He waited for the moon to disappear behind the clouds,
then crossed the road. A low stone wall, about four feet high, ran along the
embankment. He groped his way along this until he encountered a gap. The metal rod,
used like a blind man's stick, revealed a recess with a flight of descending steps. He
crouched behind the wall until another interval of moonlight enabled him to take his
bearings and revealed that the steps were unguarded, then made his way down to the
path that ran by the river. Here he became aware of the need for haste. If there were
guards on the bridge, a sudden shaft of moonlight could betray him. He hurried
forward until the moon showed through a break in the cloud, then halted and pressed
himself tightly against the wall; as soon as darkness returned, he went on. Advancing
in this way, it took him more than half an hour to reach the bridge. While still fifty
yards away, he took refuge behind a buttress and waited until a longer interval of
moonlight allowed him to study it carefully. There was no sign of spider guards; but
at either end of the bridge were rectangular structures that might have been some form
of sentry box. About to move from his hiding place, he obeyed some instinct that
urged him to stay still. After a long interval of darkness, moonlight flooded the river,
and illuminated the nearest rectangle; it enabled him to see a square window that
looked out towards him. And, as he watched, there was an unmistakable movement
behind. A moment later, it was blank. But it had told him what he wanted to know:
the spider guards commanded a clear view along the river, as well as along the avenue
that led to the white tower.
The wind that blew across the river was so cold that he was no longer able to
feel his hands or feet. If he remained there much longer, he would probably be unable
to move. So as soon as a particularly dark cloud crossed the moon he ran, crouching,
until he found himself under the shelter of the bridge. There, concealed by its black
shadow, he was finally able to sink down with his back against the wall, huddled into
a recess that gave some shelter from the wind, and clasp his knees tightly against his
chest in an effort to keep out the cold.
Now, at last, he was able to allow the metal rod to contract and stow it away in
one of the pockets of the grey smock. As he did so, he felt the tube that contained the
baggy, metallic garment and experienced a glow of gratitude towards the
Steegmaster. This, at least, should provide some kind of defence against the wind.
Very cautiously, he extracted it and pressed the end with his thumb. As it unrolled,
the wind caught it and tried to tear it out of his hands, making a loud, flapping sound.
Quickly, he thrust it under his body and sat on it. For the next ten minutes, he groped
in the darkness, flattening the garment against the ground, holding it down flat with
his frozen feet while his numb fingers tried to unfold it. Eventually, his fingers
located a slide fastener and he realised, to his relief, that he understood its purpose;
the sleep-learning device had stocked his memory with many such useful items of
information. He opened the front of the garment down to the waist, then slipped his
feet inside. A few moments later, his arms were encased in the strangely thin material,
and the slide fastener had been pulled up under his chin. The effect was astonishing.