"W. Michael Gear - Spider 2 - Way Of Spider" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gear W Michael)

over her head. Terror breathed close. Would her soul go to Spider in that last
hellish instant?
The chill of the spring night crept into her. Scents of woodsmoke and dung-fed
fires intermixed with horse, manure, rot and spices drifted on the wind. Not
even the blanket could hide the macabre presence of the star weapons.
The renegade ship Bullet still fought. Worse, the Prophets said nothing! Two
had gone with the star men in their AT and risen into the heavens. The other
two sat in their room in the ancient wreck of the Nicholai Romanan and waited,
nodding, smiling, driving the People mad with their refusal to talk of the
future.
Susan chewed her lip, wondering what the stars looked like from so high in the
death-laced sky. Even if the Spider warriors and their star friends won, she
would never know. Her heart skipped a beat. Only what if. ... Quickly, she
clamped down on the idea, driving it from her mind. Such things were not for a
woman of the People.
Her uncle, Ramon Luis Andojar-disgusted by her odd ways and dreams-already
pushed her to marry Willy Red Hawk Horsecapture. Through bride price, he hoped
to get some return on the burden of her existence. Susan grimaced under the
security of her blanket. She hated Horsecapture. He might be a noted warrior.
Many eyes followed him through the camp. People spoke well of him. Only he
never hid his arrogance. Something sinister lay behind his hot black eyes: a
menace of evil and dishonor.
Marry him? Never!
No one understood! Susan could hear and feel her molars grinding in
frustration. Another light flashed, brighter than the last. Peeking out from
under her blanket, she looked up at the heavens, seeing a small rain of
meteors. The death of one of the star ships? The breeze rustled with the soft
nervous cries of the People.
A bleak future stretched before her. Death from star weapons-or marriage to
Horsecapture. She had no escape. Better a quick burning finality as star
weapons blasted World rather than a slow death of drudgery. The thought of
Horsecapture pawing her body, his child growing within her. ...
Physically sick, Susan Smith Andojar clutched herself, trapped. She couldn't
put Horsecapture off forever. Not with her half-crazy uncle-his eyes on
Horsecapture's prize horses-demanding she marry and cease being a burden to
him, his family, and her clan.
She clenched long brown fingers into a fist and sought to quiet the feelings
of frustration and anxiety. Spider had given the People law. Spider had
decreed that men should behave one way and women another. Spider had freed
them all from the Sobyets and brought the People here to World to live
unfettered those many centuries ago.
She could not fight Spider. She could not outsmart him, trick him, or
out-argue him like she did her kinsfolk. She had to obey. Spider was God.
Even in her depression she realized the lights of death had gone black.
Looking up, she saw nothing but stars and the first moon rising beyond the
clouded Bear Mountains to the east. Faint yellow flickers streaked like
meteors, the ATs, the Attack Transports of the star men.
Who had won? Would she live? Perhaps the star men in the village would know!
She jumped lithely to the dung-soft dirt, calmed the horses, and darted off
between the dark houses.