"Ann Durand - Flight of the Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Durand Ann)

And then, she saw it. It tore randomly through a group of hostas, toppling walls and trampling contents.
This rocsadon was huge, likely a male, and was charging down the path in her direction. She sucked in
her breath and gave Chilika free rein. The hoshdel leaped off the path, heading south again in a panic.
Adrella felt the tremors in the ground as the rocsadon blew past them on the trail. She knew it had locked
onto a target and would stop at nothing, which meant that she was not its intended victim.

With some measure of relief, she struggled to regain control of Chilika, who was galloping recklessly.
Adrella reined her to a trot, then a brisk walk, and turned to look over her shoulder. The rocsadon
screeched to a halt in front of Pantera's hosta. It paused, sniffed the air, and lunged into it, throwing its
colossal body against the adobe walls.

The first surge sent a fatal fracture across the length of the front wall. The second one brought it down
with a loud crash, as well as most of the two adjoining walls. The roof toppled forward onto the
rocsadon's chest, splintering around it. The beast did not budge. The far wall remained standing.

Pantera's parents, Minken and Rokana, who must have been huddled together inside, dashed out the
back door located in the middle of the standing wall. When the rocsadon spied them, it lifted its long
neck and howled at the sky. Adrella recognized the frenzied hunting call of the rocsadon, a wretched,
piercing wail signaling the advent of a kill. A shiver ran up her spine.

She watched in horror as Minken and Rokana met Pantera in the corral. The three of them wrapped their
arms around each other, shaking while the rocsadon tramped over the broken hosta and crashed through
the fence. In desperation, Minken grabbed a gardening tool with a long handle and a sharp end. Holding
it aloft, he charged the rocsadon yelling at the top of his lungs. The rocsadon skidded to a stop in front of
him, creating a plume of swirling dust. It grabbed Minken's tool in its long teeth, and lifted its enormous
head. For a moment, Minken rose with it, then he let go and dropped onto the hard ground on his back.
The rocsadon shook his head ferociously and sent the tool flying through the air like a spear. It landed a
hundred feet away with its sharp end stuck in the ground.

Minken lay very still. Adrella could see that his eyes were open. He's resigned to his fate. There's
nothing…nothing in this world that he can do.

The rocsadon snorted, turned, focusing his steely attention back on Minken. Baring its long teeth, it
leaned over. Adrella did not hear Minken scream or cry out. She saw his body lifted inside the jaws of
the beast, his arms and legs hanging limply on either side, unresisting. The rocsadon bit down and a fount
of red poured from its mouth. Rokana sobbed as she held her arms over Pantera's head, shielding her
daughter from the grisly scene. Adrella felt nauseas and turned her head away. Within minutes, the
rocsadon had finished its meal and was thundering back down the path toward Kan Mountain, its long
tail sweeping the ground.

Clearly, this was not a feral rocsadon. It had not fixed on Minken's scent within sight range as the wild
ones did. This one had been baited with a fixing cloth, which meant Askinadon had sent it. And now, it
was headed back to its master…to the corral at the summit, lured by yet another scent.

Neighbors were already rushing toward Rokana and Pantera. Shaking, Adrella guided Chilika back onto
the path, heading north again on her own grim mission.

After living on the mountain for two years, Adrella had almost forgotten about the rocsadon raids that
Askinadon orchestrated several times a year. The raids kept the villagers sufficiently cowed to respect
the Voice, obey all directives and assume that Askinadon held all the power.