"Julia Gray - Guardian 04 - The Red Glacier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

wished he hadn't. His eyes were growing accustomed to the dim light now, and
as soon as his probing fingers turned it over, it was all too obvious what it
was. The empty eye sockets of a human skull stared back at him above grinning
rows of exposed teeth. Other bones lay scattered beyond it. Terrel was
obviously not the first person to have walked into this trap. If the gods of
Myvatan really were responsible for the giant sculpture, it seemed that they
had a particularly unpleasant sense of humour.
Terrel could hear the sounds of battle again now, echoing faintly in the
chamber, and he knew that the fighting must be coming even closer. For a
moment he considered calling out, hoping to attract the soldiers' attention.
Whatever they might decide to do with him, it could hardly be worse than the
fate of the one-time owner of the skull. However, he knew that the chances of
anyone hearing him amid the tumult of warfare were very slim, and decided that
he'd still prefer to try to find his own way out. He went on.
The light was coming from a narrow tunnel at the back of the whale's mouth.
The tunnel was circular and barely wide enough for Terrel's shoulders. The
sides looked rougher than the ridged floor of the mouth, but unless it became
an even tighter squeeze, that wouldn't be a problem. He told himself he should
at least explore, and find out where the light was coming from. He could
always return if the tunnel led nowhere. Taking off his pack, he
wondered whether to take it with him or leave it behind, and quickly decided
on the former. If he did discover a way out, he wouldn't want to have to come
back for his belongings. He pushed the bag into the tunnel. Unfortunately,
this had the effect of blocking off most of the light, but Terrel couldn't
think how else to keep it with him.
As he crawled into the hole, shoving the pack ahead of him, he was immediately
aware of the sharp points of rock digging into his belly, arms and legs. The
skin of his good hand was caught painfully as he pulled himself forward, but
once his feet were inside the tunnel his boots were able to get a good
purchase and he moved forward more rapidly — albeit at the cost of a few more
scratches.
He had not gone far when his pack came up against an obstruction, and pushing
only seemed to wedge it tighter. Whatever was ahead was not shifting. Terrel
tried to squash the pack to one side and peer around it, but he couldn't see
anything. So he reached round with his good arm to see if he could find
whatever was barring his progress and dislodge it. His fingers encountered
something slim and hard, lying across the width of the tunnel, and he had no
need to see it to know what it was. He'd found part of another skeleton. It
was one of the larger bones that was now wedged tightly, blocking the whale's
throat.
With no way through, Terrel reluctantly decided that he'd have to go back. He
began to wriggle around, and immediately cried out in pain. The stone points
that had been mere nuisances earlier now stabbed at him like sharp knives,
snagging his clothes and sticking into his flesh. Almost immediately he saw
what had happened and cursed himself for not having recognized the peril
earlier. The whale's throat was lined with backward-facing 'teeth',
which allowed him to go in but not back out again. So now he really mas
trapped, unable to move in either direction.
Fear, coupled with the sheer stupidity of having got himself into such a
situation, made Terrel want to weep. After all he'd been through, the idea of