"Adkins, Patrick H - Titans 01 - Lord of the Crooked Path" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adkins Patrick H)

gods. It's too early to say."

They moved slowly up the long, narrow glade. Across the stream little
heads appeared, wide eyes following them.

"They're watching us," Metis said. "They're curious. That means they're
smart."

A bittersweet smile touched Melpomene's lips. "So much the worse, if
they do have any intelligence."

"Why?" Lachesis asked.

"They'll compare themselves with us. They'll envy us and aim too high.
They'll smolder with resentment, and finally they'll hate us, when the
futility of their efforts starts to crush them. Oh, pay no attention to
me," she said suddenly. "I don't know what's wrong. My mood has turned
terribly glum."

The mounds grew in all sizes. Some were little larger than

acorns; others were as big as the full-grown men watching from the
trees. Many of the largest mounds had the mud broken away in places from
the violent struggles of the creatures within, which seemed to be trying
to extricate themselves.

"I think you're wrong," Kalliope said. "None of that matters. Even
beings as wretched as these can be noble, if they strive." There was a
peculiar quaver in her voice.

"But without hope of success . . . ?"

"It doesn't matter," Kalliope insisted, pointing first toward one of the
mounds and then across the stream. "Yesterday they were fighting to
birth themselves from these mud and slime cocoons. Today they're playing
in the wind and sunshine. Who may say what they'll do tomorrow?"

Metis was absorbed in the man cuddled against her breast, and not
listening to their conversation. "May we take this one back with us?"
she asked.

It took Melpomene a moment to cast off her sad thoughts. "You'd better
not, I would think. Not until we've received Lord Kronos's permission."

"You'd better put him down now," Kalliope told her. She lifted the man
gently from Metis's hands and set him on the ground near the stream.

The goddesses continued walking, a pace or two at a time, each now sunk
in her own thoughts. Metis hung back, waiting till none of the others
was looking in her direction. Scooping up the man's still limp body, she