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

chance of making it to the caves undetected, but they'd have to push the hoshdels at a steady pace, and
these were not high-speed endurance animals. They were already slowing from exhaustion.

By withholding the rocsadons, Askinadon had revealed his desire to collect both women alive. Greedy
asshole, Mike thought, glancing at the unconscious figure of Adrella draped in front of him over the
hoshdel. Her soft, shiny black hair almost covered the length of her slender arms, which were swaying
over the broad side of the hoshdel. Between struggling with her blanketed body and viewing her
backside, Mike hadn't seen much of her face, except for the instant he'd lifted her off the ground in
Tikesh Fields. As he'd gripped her under the arms, her head had rolled toward him and landed inches
from his nose. It had been like staring into Katera's face-the same luscious, lime-green eyes, dark lips,
and porcelain-smooth skin. A perfect double.

He twisted around in the saddle to check on Katera's progress. She was keeping up the frenetic pace by
goading both Adrella's hoshdel and her own with a long whip. Remarkable fortitude. He focused his
attention back on the route ahead, keeping to the trees and avoiding all clearings. In several spots, the
hoshdel's hooves crunched over dry twigs on the ground, and he slowed their procession to a quieter gait
until they'd cleared them. Twice, the takataks passed directly over the canopy above their heads,
momentarily blinking the sun away. Each time, they appeared abruptly, gliding in deadly silence. Mike
halted the party while they waited with stilled breath for the birds to pass.

Two exhausting hours later, they neared their destination with the hoshdels huffing, their sides dripping
with sweat. As they approached the clearing leading to the cave opening, Mike craned his neck to see
through the trees. What he spied made his heart jump.

One lone takatak sat perched on a boulder near the brush that covered the opening to the caves. The
bird appeared distracted, busily grooming a wing. Mike squinted and looked closer. The wing was bent
backwards in the middle at a critical angle…broken. This bird wasn't going anywhere.

As Mike studied it, the gravity of their predicament dawned on him. The bird could not fly, and eventually
the other takataks would come looking for it. He did not see a way to get around the beast and uncover
the brush to steal inside the cave. Even if he managed it, the bird would unveil their hiding place to the
other takataks, who would bring Don Askins to it. If he tried waiting in the forest with the women,
chances were that one of the takataks would eventually spot them hiding in the trees and assail them.

That left one option. He would have to kill the bird blocking the route to the safety of the cave. And he
would need to accomplish this by staging an accident, lest the bird's death draw suspicion from Askins.
As he fretted over this, Katera maneuvered her hoshdel next to him, and stared out at the wounded
creature. She looked dismayed and started to say something, but Mike fitted his finger over his lips.
Katera nodded and turned to stare at the beast.

Mike's palms grew sweaty on the reins as his heart pounded. There was very little time. It would not take
long for the other takataks to discover the bird missing and locate it. He drew in a steadying breath and
scanned the surrounding trees. His eyes fell on a tall tree with a rotting middle on the edge of the clearing,
and he had an idea.

Motioning Katera to stay put, he slipped off his hoshdel and opened his saddlebag. Fishing into its
depths, he pulled out the Insertech. Hardly daring to breath, he stole silently toward the target tree.
Halfway there, he stepped on a dry twig hidden under a leaf, sending a loud crack reverberating into the
air. He held his breath, but the takatak did not stir from its preoccupation with the injured wing. That's
one sore bird, he thought, with relief.