"Roland Green - Conan and the Gods of the Mountains" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Roland)

Spiders, or the Cobras. Yet he had been known to turn a blind eye when those

clans suffered some small hurt—such as the disappearance of a hunter whose fate

neither gods nor men could learn.

The hunter twisted himself about again, ignoring the pain in his head and ankle

as he drew up his legs and raised his spear.

"Ha, what have we here?" the tallest of the four Monkeys said. "One of the

Little Cats, it seems."

The hunter bit back a reply of equal sharpness, on the order of "Speak for

yourself, Gelded Baboon." It would be time to seek an honorable death when he

had told the four warriors where he had been and what he had seen there.
"Brothers—" the hunter began.

Spear-butts thudded on mossy ground. "No brother to you," one of the

spear-wielders growled.

"Chabano says otherwise," the hunter replied, then started his story before

anyone else could find insults. He began with finding the dead dragon outside

Xuchotl, slain by no cause the hunter could discover.

That gained him the tallest Monkey's attention. "There have been tales of a

dragon in that part of the forest. Yet there are more tales that say nothing can

kill a dragon. Perhaps the cause you could not discover was old age, or a

bellyache!"

"Listen to the rest of what I have to say, then think that if you wish," the

hunter said. "I will say only what I saw, and that as swiftly as I can."

The hint for silence was not lost on the Monkey leader. The next time one of his

warriors tried to interrupt the hunter, a spear-butt came down sharply on the

man's toes. A glare cut short his muttered ill wishes, and allowed the hunter to

continue.