[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
they were both gone, then slipped down the hill to the stream and drank. When
he was no longer thirsty, he filled his canteen and scrambled back up the hill
into the trees until the pass was a good mile away.
The pass and the stream would naturally draw anyone on the move tonight. Blade
wanted to sleep undisturbed, then worry about getting to know the people of
this Dimension in the light of day.
He found a place where at least none of the rocks had sharp edges or points
and made himself as comfortable as he could. He also made a mental note that
one of the first new pieces of equipment for the next trip would be a sleeping
bag or at least a sleeping pad. There was no good reason for losing sleep
unnecessarily, no matter how tough you were.
After a couple of bites of the sausage, he decided that could also wait until
daylight. The sausage seemed to be one of those preserved foods which never
Page 14
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
quite goes bad but never tastes very good either.
By now it was completely dark. He lay down again, curled up into a tight ball
like a cat, and drifted off to sleep.
Blade woke once during the night, thinking he heard a distant clanging of
weapons on armor. It faded so swiftly that he couldn't be sure. After
listening briefly to a silence broken only by night birds and the breeze in
the treetops, he went back to sleep. When he woke again, it was the dawn of a
fine summer day.
The first thing he did was eat some more of the sausage. He was now hungry
enough to ignore its taste, if not to actually enjoy it. The second thing was
to examine the corpse of the feather-monkey.
This told him some things he hadn't known before, if not as much as he wanted
to know. The feathers were definitely a natural growth, not a garment or a
graft. They also showed signs of careful clipping and grooming. Otherwise
there was nothing extraordinary about the creature. Its eyes were so large
that it was probably at home in the darkness almost as much as in daylight.
The forehead also looked higher
than Blade remembered seeing in most primates, which hinted at a larger brain.
That was no more than a possibility, however, and even if the brain was larger
that didn't mean intelligence. He hadn't seen the monkeys do anything which
couldn't be the result of very careful training. That didn't make them any
less dangerous, since they were small targets, they moved fast, and with those
poisoned daggers, they only had to reach you once.
Since the dead monkey was beginning to smell, Blade left it under a tree and
walked downhill toward the pass. His first sight when he reached it was a dead
horse, lying with its head in the stream and flies buzzing around its
hindquarters. It showed no signs of any wounds. Blade only hoped it was dead
from exhaustion rather than from a poisoned stab by one of the
feather-monkeys. As he walked up the pass, he studied every bit of cover large
enough to hide a man or even a monkey.
Before he'd gone half a mile, he came to an even less welcome sight. A naked
woman lay sprawled on her back beside the trail. She'd died from having her
throat cut, but she must have been already half-dead from mass rape before the
knife went in. Blade picked her up and carried her into the trees where she
could at least lie unseen. The ground was much too rocky for burying anyone
with no tools but bare hands and a fighting knife.
He was even more watchful after he returned to the trail. He also wished he
had a long-range weapon, perhaps the crossbow he'd mentioned to Lord Leighton.
Of course nothing short of a machine gun would do justice to his feelings
toward the gang rapists. But that would never be a practical weapon to take
into
Dimension X. It would be useless as soon as the ammunition ran out, and it
would be far beyond local technology in most Dimensions.
Blade didn't worry about changing Dimensions by introducing new technology. He
did that all the time, either to save his own skin or sometimes to solve a
problem which had to be solved if the people of the
Dimension were to survive. He did worry about getting rounded up and perhaps
burned at the stake as a sorcerer, for bringing something so advanced the
people would call it magic.
The pass and its trail zigzagged back and forth so much that he found himself
covering at least four miles on foot for every mile he advanced in a straight
line. He'd started early in the morning, but it was past noon before he
reached the top of the pass. The trees and boulders on either side made it a
perfect place for an ambush. Blade therefore approached cautiously, looking
for a stream. It was a hot day and he looked forward to a long, cool drink of
water, rather than sipping sparingly from his canteen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
they were both gone, then slipped down the hill to the stream and drank. When
he was no longer thirsty, he filled his canteen and scrambled back up the hill
into the trees until the pass was a good mile away.
The pass and the stream would naturally draw anyone on the move tonight. Blade
wanted to sleep undisturbed, then worry about getting to know the people of
this Dimension in the light of day.
He found a place where at least none of the rocks had sharp edges or points
and made himself as comfortable as he could. He also made a mental note that
one of the first new pieces of equipment for the next trip would be a sleeping
bag or at least a sleeping pad. There was no good reason for losing sleep
unnecessarily, no matter how tough you were.
After a couple of bites of the sausage, he decided that could also wait until
daylight. The sausage seemed to be one of those preserved foods which never
Page 14
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
quite goes bad but never tastes very good either.
By now it was completely dark. He lay down again, curled up into a tight ball
like a cat, and drifted off to sleep.
Blade woke once during the night, thinking he heard a distant clanging of
weapons on armor. It faded so swiftly that he couldn't be sure. After
listening briefly to a silence broken only by night birds and the breeze in
the treetops, he went back to sleep. When he woke again, it was the dawn of a
fine summer day.
The first thing he did was eat some more of the sausage. He was now hungry
enough to ignore its taste, if not to actually enjoy it. The second thing was
to examine the corpse of the feather-monkey.
This told him some things he hadn't known before, if not as much as he wanted
to know. The feathers were definitely a natural growth, not a garment or a
graft. They also showed signs of careful clipping and grooming. Otherwise
there was nothing extraordinary about the creature. Its eyes were so large
that it was probably at home in the darkness almost as much as in daylight.
The forehead also looked higher
than Blade remembered seeing in most primates, which hinted at a larger brain.
That was no more than a possibility, however, and even if the brain was larger
that didn't mean intelligence. He hadn't seen the monkeys do anything which
couldn't be the result of very careful training. That didn't make them any
less dangerous, since they were small targets, they moved fast, and with those
poisoned daggers, they only had to reach you once.
Since the dead monkey was beginning to smell, Blade left it under a tree and
walked downhill toward the pass. His first sight when he reached it was a dead
horse, lying with its head in the stream and flies buzzing around its
hindquarters. It showed no signs of any wounds. Blade only hoped it was dead
from exhaustion rather than from a poisoned stab by one of the
feather-monkeys. As he walked up the pass, he studied every bit of cover large
enough to hide a man or even a monkey.
Before he'd gone half a mile, he came to an even less welcome sight. A naked
woman lay sprawled on her back beside the trail. She'd died from having her
throat cut, but she must have been already half-dead from mass rape before the
knife went in. Blade picked her up and carried her into the trees where she
could at least lie unseen. The ground was much too rocky for burying anyone
with no tools but bare hands and a fighting knife.
He was even more watchful after he returned to the trail. He also wished he
had a long-range weapon, perhaps the crossbow he'd mentioned to Lord Leighton.
Of course nothing short of a machine gun would do justice to his feelings
toward the gang rapists. But that would never be a practical weapon to take
into
Dimension X. It would be useless as soon as the ammunition ran out, and it
would be far beyond local technology in most Dimensions.
Blade didn't worry about changing Dimensions by introducing new technology. He
did that all the time, either to save his own skin or sometimes to solve a
problem which had to be solved if the people of the
Dimension were to survive. He did worry about getting rounded up and perhaps
burned at the stake as a sorcerer, for bringing something so advanced the
people would call it magic.
The pass and its trail zigzagged back and forth so much that he found himself
covering at least four miles on foot for every mile he advanced in a straight
line. He'd started early in the morning, but it was past noon before he
reached the top of the pass. The trees and boulders on either side made it a
perfect place for an ambush. Blade therefore approached cautiously, looking
for a stream. It was a hot day and he looked forward to a long, cool drink of
water, rather than sipping sparingly from his canteen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]