"Ardath Mayhar - Hunters of the Plains" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mayhar Ardath)

Night moved up the east, and no cloud marred the blue-black vault of the sky. The hot breath of the
sun-soaked land began to cool as drums thudded softly amid the huddle of lodges.

Do-na-ti, having found himself once and his knife twice, returned to his lodge to find his family waiting to
dress him in the ritual attire. To no one's surprise, he brought nothing to show for running his snares, but
his family only smiled. They understood the importance of this night to their newest hunter and warrior.

Ka-shi was bouncing with excitement, and the younger children were wordless with awe as Do-na-ti
shrugged about his shoulders the robe made of many badger hides. This robe was old—older than the
grandfather.

Only the badger hood was new, shaped and stitched with care by the hands of his mother. She had used
red-dyed thongs as ties, and they were bright against the fur as he lifted the hood over his carefully
smoothed braids and allowed his uncle to tie the bindings.

He stood very straight as his parents, the elders of the clan, all his uncles and aunts, and the children
admired his splendor. Then the sound of a bone flute began wavering through the night breeze, and
Do-na-ti dropped into a crouch, as his uncle had taught him when he was a child.
Again he put himself into the mind of the badger, and his fingers curled into claws, his lips peeled from his
teeth in a snarl. A strangeness rose inside the young man, and he wondered if at this moment all the other
men of the Badger Clan felt as he did.

His uncle, already resplendent in his badger costume, came to touch his shoulder. As he looked into the
older man's eyes, Do-na-ti knew that he, too, had become, inside himself, the beast that was the totem of
their clan.

Obeying the pressure of his uncle's hand, Do-na-ti stooped beneath the low doorway and stepped into
the night. Behind came his uncle, the grandfather, all the family.

Others of the People of the village were coming from their own big lodges, led by adult men wearing
hoods much like the new warrior's, all portraying the totem beasts of their clans.

The glare of fire touched the low domes of the house with orange light as they wound their way among
the random clusters of lodges to the center of the village. Off to the right, the Fox Clan was emerging into
the light.

On the other side of the village, the dark mass of walkers showed that the Bison Clan was on its way to
the ritual. E-lo-ni's own clan, the Terrapin People, would already be in place, the boy knew.

Tu-ri-nit was already there, his wrinkled face invisible beneath the badger hood. Beside him sat
Fe-ka-na, Elder of the Foxes, wearing the fox mask that was the hood of her people. Ku-lap, elder of
the Bisons, wore a cap of woolly hide, for the head of the giant bison was too large to be borne by a
single person. Go-eh-lit, who had been elder for the Terrapin Clan, had died the previous moon, and his
replacement had not yet been chosen.

The remaining three were the anchors of the village; the collected wisdom of generations of the people of
the plains country lived in their minds, in the songs they had learned from their ancestors. The dangers
and triumphs dealt with over centuries were the heritage their hearts and memories preserved for their
people.