"David Zindell - Requiem of Homo Sapiens 01 - The Broken God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zindell David)

but rather strange and delicately deformed, as if he were a
thallow born into a nest of sparrowhawks.
'You should not sleep in the snow,' Soli said as he brushed
back his grey and black hair. Like most Alaloi men, he was
large and muscular. Today, he was very tired. His shoulders
were slumped, and there was a faraway, broody look about his
eyes. He seemed very worried. 'Only dogs sleep in the snow.'
'But, sir, I was only going to pick fireflowers,' Danlo
said. 'I do not know what happened.'
'You might have slept too long and never awakened.'
Soli pulled him to his feet. They were standing near the
mouth of the cave. Thirty feet away, the sled dogs of twelve
families were tied to their stakes in the snow; they were
pulling at their leashes, whining, begging for their evening
meal. Danlo couldn't remember the last time he had fed them. He
couldn't remember the last time he had fed himself. It was late
afternoon and the sun was low in the sky. The air was blue
cold, as clear as silka, the new ice. He
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looked out over the valley below the cave. The forest was
already lost in shadows of dark green and grey тАУ tomorrow, he
thought, he might hunt shagshay, but tonight the dogs would go
hungry again.
'Haidar and Chandra have gone over,' Danlo said. He looked at
Soli.
'Yes, they were the last.'
'Haidar and Chandra,' Danlo repeated, and he wiped a clump of
melting snow away from his forehead. And then he said a prayer
for his found-parents' spirits: 'Haidar eth Chandra, mi
alasharia la shantih Devaki.'
Soli rubbed his nose with his three-fingered hand and said,
'Shantih, shantih.'
'And Sanya,' Danlo said, 'and Mahira, they have gone over,
too.'
'Shantih,' Soli said.
'And Irisha, Yukio and Jemmu тАУ all alasharu.'
'Shantih.'
'And Rafael, Choclo and Anevay. And Mentina, they have all
made the great journey.'
'Yes,' Soli said, 'Shantih.'
'They are all dead.'
'Yes.'
'Ten days ago, all alive and fat with life, even Old Anala,
and nowтАУ '
'Do not speak of it. Words are only words тАУ there is no
purpose.'
Danlo took off his mittens and pressed his eyes; the hot
water there burned his cold thumbs. 'I am so tired,' he said.
And then, The blessed Devaki тАУ the whole tribe, sir. How can
this be?'