"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 29 - Treasure of the Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

enough firepower to make themselves thoroughly deadly to Richard Blade. Slings and clubs against
automatic rifles wasn't his idea of safe odds.
 However, these soldiers didn't seem to have much idea of how to handle themselves in the woods. He
could almost certainly follow them anywhere, without having to meet them if he didn't want to.

So he climbed down the tree and set off on the trail of the soldiers.

The soldiers not only moved noisily, they moved slowly. Blade's main problem at first was not
overtaking them and being seen. After a while he realized that wasn't going to be much of a problem
either. The soldiers' training hadn't included anything about how to move cross-country in hostile territory.
They marched looking mostly ahead, occasionally to the side, never above or behind.

Unless there was a second patrol following this one, guarding their rear? Blade thought he'd better
check. He dropped back, hid under a bush, and waited, listening to the first patrol tramping off, then
listening for the approach of a second.

Eventually he decided the first patrol really was being as careless as it looked and set off after them
again. When he came in sight of them, they were still tramping along as casually as before. Some were
beginning to sweat and most of the uniforms were no longer quite so crisp and clean. Otherwise they still
looked as if they were parading in front of their own barracks. Blade began to wonder if this was just an
exercise, where even the worst sort of carelessness would earn the soldiers nothing more than a
chewing-out from some sergeant or officer.

He'd just completed the thought when there was a thunderous explosion not far ahead. Even through the
treetops Blade could see a mountain of gray smoke towering against the sky. The ground heaved, birds
screeched, small animals dashed about in terror, twigs, leaves, and birds' nests showered down on
Blade. Most of the soldiers threw themselves on the ground.

A yellowish-brown animal the size of a small deer burst out of the undergrowth to Blade's right, plunging
toward the line of soldiers. One of them rose on his elbows, aimed his rifle, and squeezed off a burst.
Whatever the rifle fired, it hit hard enough to not only blow the animal's head off but cut down a couple of
small trees behind it. The headless corpse collapsed, spouting blood, and the trees dropped on top of it.

Before the animal stopped twitching, the burst of rifle fire was echoed from ahead and to the left. Bursts
alternated with single shots and the noise steadily increased. Blade heard grenade explosions, shouts, and
once the unmistakable shrieks of someone in agony.

So much for the notion that he'd wandered into some harmless maneuvers! He began to wonder if the
best thing might not be to wander out again while the soldiers were fighting their battle. He didn't see any
particular point in getting his head blown off like the animal's.

Then suddenly running feet thudded and bushes crackled to the right of the soldiers. Five running figures
burst out into the open. Four of them were men, one a woman with long pale silvery hair. All of them
were carrying rifles or pistols.

Both sides were paralyzed with surprise for a moment. Then the paralysis ended and the forest exploded
with a deafening roar of gunfire as both sides let fly. Blade flattened himself on the ground. For the
moment he could tell what was happening without seeing it, and he didn't want to be drilled by any of the
stray bullets whistling in all directions like mad bees.