"Colin Wilson - Spiderworld 05 - The Magician" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilson Colin)

Again, the words conveyed his message direct to the spider's brain. Followed by the
second guard, it loped across the square toward Skorbo, its enormous strength unaffected
by a mere foot of snow. Niall knew there was no point in trying to follow; his whole body
felt drained. Instead, he sank down on a bench outside the door, and watched as the
guards gently lifted the injured spider. As they approached, he observed the way the legs
dragged in the snow, and knew that Skorbo was dead.
They placed the body on the floor, scattering snow on the black marble. Skorbo
was still bleeding; his blood was thicker, more viscous, than human blood, and it spread
slowly, like a pool of oil. It was running from the spider's head, which lay sideways on
the floor, and now Niall was able to see that there was a hole in the skull, about a foot
above the single row of eyes that extended in a band around its head. Unlike human
beings, spiders have no internal bone structure; the armored shell is itself an external
skeleton. Skorbo's skull had been shattered by a blow. What puzzled Niall was that there
seemed to be fragments of broken armor in the hole, as might have been expected if some
tremendous blow had been delivered from above. A large segment seemed to be missing.
Blood oozed from the hole as from the socket from which a tooth has been pulled.
The wolf spiders were standing there, too respectful to ask questions. Niall said:
"Please notify Dravig of what has happened. Tell him I shall be at home."
But as he plodded back through the snow, curiosity overcame his weariness. What
had happened struck him as completely incomprehensible. The hole in the skull made it
look as if Skorbo had been attacked. By whom? Another spider? That seemed unlikely.
Unlike human beings, spiders seldom fought among themselves. Yet it was equally
difficult to envisage some accident that might have caused the damage.
The obvious way to find out was to go and look. Niall retraced his steps, and took
the diagonal route across the plaza, where the forward rush of the wolf spiders had
churned up the snow like some enormous plough. When he came to the place where the
injured spider had lain, he realized that Skorbo had lost a great deal of blood; his life had
oozed away into the snow as he lay there, his brain too damaged to send the signal that
would have brought help. In front of Niall, along the eastern side of the square, there
were a number of empty houses in various states of disrepair. The city was full of such
houses; spiders often made their homes in the upper stories. But they preferred houses on
either side of the street, so they could weave their webs between them; this is why the
houses bordering the square had remained empty.
 The trail of blood had been obliterated by falling snow; but by bending until his
face was within a few inches of the surface, he was able to make out the darker patches.
These, he could now see, led back toward the second house from the corner, a tall
building whose rusty balconies suggested that it had once been a hotel. Like the others,
its windows had been boarded up and its door was closed -- all houses in this square had
been forbidden to human beings. Niall tried the door; it seemed to be locked. Yet when
he brushed aside the snow on the doorstep with his shoe, a damp bloodstain told him that
this was the house in which Skorbo had met his injury. He rammed the door with his
shoulder; it seemed completely immovable. But a sheet of plywood covering a window
proved to be less solid, and caved inward when he pushed it with both hands.
He leaned in with caution. If something -- or someone -- powerful enough to kill a
spider was lurking inside, he was going to take no risks. In fact, he found himself looking
into a bare hallway whose wooden floor was covered with plaster and rubble; it smelled
of decay and damp. Recognizing that his tension was blocking his perceptions, he
deliberately relaxed, exhaling deeply and closing his eyes; then, as he achieved inner
stillness, concentrated intently. A point of light glowed inside his skull, and the silence
seemed to deepen. In that moment, he knew with absolute certainty that no concealed