"George R. R. Martin - In the House of the Worm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

before him.

Suddenly Annelyn felt Groff's hand on his chest, pushing, pushing. “Back,― the knight whispered,
oh-so-softly, and this time Annelyn gladly went deeper into the shadows. Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.

Neither Vermyllar nor the Meatbringer was carrying a torch.

"Get up,― the Meatbringer said. “Get up and walk. I'm not going to carry you."

Vermyllar rose unsteady and whimpering. “Don't,― he said. “It's dark. I can't see. Don't."

The Meatbringer pricked him with the knife. “In and to the left,― he said. “Feel if you can't see,
animal. Feel.― And Vermyllar went into the tunnel, groping for the wall, sobbing, seeming to look
straight at Annelyn before he turned to the left. But the Meatbringer never glanced their way as he went
by, prodding Vermyllar forward with his blade.

To Annelyn it seemed a solid hour that he stood in the black of the middle tunnel, but it could only have
been minutes. Finally the sound of Vermyllar's protests and wails dwindled to a small noise down below
them. Then Groff spoke. “No torch,― he said, and even his stern voice seemed shaken. “The
man's eyes are possessed by a groun."

"Are we going back?― Riess said.
"Back?― Groff was outlined in the red light of the door. “No. No. But we must see. A torch, we
must have a torch. We will catch them. We know the way he went, and the Manworm's great-grandson
was making much lament."

"Why does he want Vermyllar?― Annelyn said, in a whisper. His wits had fled him.

"I can conjecture,― Groff said. “But we will see.― He gave orders, and the three of them began
to roam the small length of burrow, feeling for torch grips. Riess found nothing but an air duct, but
Annelyn's hands finally closed over a familiar bronze fist. It held a torch.

While Riess lit it, Annelyn turned to Groff. “A fist, the work of the yaga-la-hai, here, in the
groun-runs. How is that, Groff?"

"These were not always groun-runs. The worm-children carved these burrows, a million years ago. The
grouns drove them upward in a great war, or so it is said. The burrows that have always been the
grouns’ are different. Now the grouns cluster below, and the yaga-la-hai above; both were created
many and strong, and both we and they have decayed, as all things great and small decay in the sight of
the White Worm. So these tunnels and the Chambers of the Last Light and our Undertunnel are all empty
where once they were full."

Riess, holding the torch, made the sign of the worm.

"Come,― Groff said. “The burrow goes straight a long way, down and down, but it finally breaks,
and we must not lose them."

So they began to walk—Riess with the torch and Groff with his ax, Annelyn clutching his stiletto—and
they made good speed. The burrow was utterly empty: a long, wide stretch of hot-mouthed air ducts and