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

the southwest-facing cliffs. The next thing he heard was not so easy to
explain. It was a loud, mournful whistling, that rose and fell in an echoing,
melancholy song of the sea. He had never heard anything like it before, but it
seemed to be all around him and he knew, with a sudden intuition that he did
not question, that this was the whale's song.
The extraordinary noise had clearly been heard by some of the soldiers too.
There was a brief lull in the fighting and many of them glanced at the whale,
their faces betraying a mixture of surprise and fear. Terrel ducked down,
trying not to impale himself on too many of the stone teeth, then found that
he was now under threat from another source. A huge thump from below, louder
than any that had gone before, had not completely died away. The vibration was
augmented by a rushing, gurgling sound that grew louder by the moment - and
Terrel realized what was going to happen just before the source of the noise
reached him. He was standing in the whale's blowhole — and it was about to
blow.
Directly below him, water exploded from the smaller tunnel with incredible
force. Expanding to fill the larger space, it lost some of its momentum, but
was still strong enough to lift Terrel up bodily and propel him towards the
open air. Flailing and spluttering, he found himself momentarily weightless as
spurts of seawater, foam and spray flew past him into the sky. The next thing
he knew he had been deposited, almost gently, on the whale's back, next to the
still-gushing fountain. He had landed on his feet, upright, his boots resting
on solid rock. It was almost as though the water had set him aside so that it
could get on with its proper business of shooting towards the stars, and had
decided that his entrance would be more dramatic
if he was not just sent sprawling to the ground. He was soaked through, and
the water was so cold that it seemed to burn his already bruised and scratched
skin, but otherwise he was miraculously unharmed.
The rush of water next to him subsided as the pressure from below relented,
and what was left drained back to the sea and into the whale's mouth,
dribbling out between its clenched teeth. Terrel stood where he was, too
shocked to think, only gradually becoming aware that the only sound he could
hear now was the soughing of the wind. Even that seemed strangely hushed.
The warriors were still there, but the fighting had come to a complete stop.
All the men seemed to be frozen where they were, some with their swords still
raised for a blow that had been halted in mid-strike. Terrel found that
vaguely worrying. But what was more worrying still was that every one of the
soldiers was now staring at him.
Chapter Seven
The silence seemed to last for ever, and then was broken by a banshee wail
that was recognizably human in origin but which also sounded like a deranged
echo of the whale's song. The effect this had was remarkable. Soldiers on one
side of the conflict took up the cry - which had presumably come from one of
their own number - and at the same time they began scrambling to get away from
the battlefield. A few dissenting voices - their officers, perhaps -tried to
stop them from running away, but to no avail. The retreat became a disorderly
stampede, carrying even the objectors along with it.
Meanwhile, those who were left - who were clearly not at all interested in
pursuing their fleeing enemies - stood where they were, still staring in
amazement at Terrel. He found it hard to believe that his appearance - even