"David Eddings - The Dreamers 04 - The Younger Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

flying sticks before, though none of us had been able to understand just how the man-things could make
the sticks fly. Some of us were quite sure that the sticks were live things that were controlled by various
man-things. When the man-thing said "fly," the stick obeyed. Then, when the stick was in mid-flight, the
man-thing spoke again and said "kill." And the stick did that.

We searched and searched for sticks that would obey commands, but we found them not.

The man-things had used other weapons as well. The long stick did not fly, but it was nearly as cruel as
were the flying sticks. The long sticks had wide points that were alien, having no relation to the stick itself.
The points were very sharp, and they easily penetrated the bodies of the warrior servants.

It came to us that many of the man-things we had encountered were not related to the man-things that
occupied the land of the sunset and now the land of longer summers.

The struggle on the slope was long and difficult, and our beloved Mother sent many new-form servants
into the struggle, but they could not overcome the man-things who hid themselves behind their protective
rock-piles, rising to their feet only to kill those of us who were attacking.

Much disturbed were those of us who are the true servants of beloved Mother when she insisted that we
should take her from the nest to the region where the conflict was taking place. Her safety must always
be our first obligation, but Mother saw no reason to be concerned. She is immortal, of course, but the
conflict was raging in the land of longer summers. The nest was safe, but the region of conflict was not.

She was Mother, however, so we had no choice but to obey her.

Then yet another group of man-things came rushing up from far down in the land of longer summers, and
that particular group appeared to have some other goal than the defeat of Mother's warrior servants.
There were many reports from the seekers that the man-things which had been fighting Mother's warrior
servants were stepping aside to let the new group pass through without restraint.

And the new group of man-things rushed to the top of the slope that led down to Mother's region and
then they ran on down that slope—almost as if they could not even see Mother's warrior servants. We
have learned—much to our sorrow—that most of the man-things are extremely clever, but the new group
of man-things seemed to have little or no thought as they blindly rushed down the slope toward something
which only they could see.

And Mother's warrior servants of several altered forms killed the mindless man-things by the thousands,
but the other mindless man-things paid no heed to the fate of their companions, but continued their rush
down the slope toward that which only they could see.

And then it was that enormous amounts of water burst forth from the upper face of the high hill above us,
and Mother's warrior servants and the mindless man-things alike were engulfed in water and carried
down the slope to certain destruction.

And Mother screamed in anguish even as those of us who live but to serve her carried her back toward
the safety of the nest, for it was now clear that water could be as deadly as fire, and that the land of
longer summers was now and forever beyond our reach.


Great was the grief of our beloved Mother, but in time the seekers of knowledge persuaded her that