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

the air had not cooled much, as yet.

Their smudge of fire did little more than send smoke whirling about the circle enclosed by the pole, mud,
and thatch structure, as the wind pushed it back down the smoke hole. Do-na-ti stood inside the low
doorway and spoke to the elders of the Badger Clan. "Today I have killed my badger. I go now to take
the skin, and tonight my mother will prepare it and shape the hood that shows me to be an adult member
of our clan. Grandfather, Grandmother, I come to you as a man of the People."

Tu-ri-nit gazed toward him through the swirling smoke and the dim red light. That clouded gaze saw
more, the young man had always understood, than far younger and sharper eyes were able to see. The
thin lips widened as if to smile, and the old man raised his hand.
"I see you, Do-na-ti, son of Ash-pah and De-lo-nit. Go and skin your prey. Send one of your kin to
speak with the family of E-lo-ni. It is good that you add another man's strength and skill to our hunting."

Do-na-ti, who had been ready to turn to his own task, paused, feeling his heart race, hammering inside
his chest. "They have sighted game, then?" the boy asked, barely able to keep the excitement from his
voice.

"A group of the Great Tusked Ones has moved from the west. They come slowly, eating bushes and the
tops of the small trees along the streams, but if nothing disturbs them they will come to the trapping place
when the moon is a fingernail's width in the western sky." He waved Do-na-ti on with one withered hand.

"So prepare your hood and ready yourself for the ritual. It is a good omen that you become a man just in
time to help with a Great Hunt."

Almost shivering with excitement, the boy moved into the wind between the lodges, crossing the
dust-ridden space to the lodge shared by the two bands of people who were his direct kin. There was no
fire inside, for most of them were young. Light came from five twisted-grass torches, whose ends were
thrust into the earthen floor.

The wind whistled from the open doorway up through the smoke hole, fluttering the flames and making
the family blink at the gust of grit. "Tie down the door flap," Ash-pah said, as Do-na-ti entered. "The
wind will blow out the torches."

He obeyed her before going to sit beside her at her work stone. "I will skin the badger, if you would like
for me to," he said. "Tu-ri-nit says there will be a Great Hunt at the time of the new moon. I will be
ready."

His mother nodded, her eyes bright. "The great tusked beasts move toward the trapping place," she said.
"And my son will be among those who drive them, instead of waiting with the children to help skin the
huge creatures and cut their meat. That is good."

The boy hid his smile as he bent over the stiff body of the badger. Deft cuts with his flint knife opened the
skin of the stomach and made a slit down each leg. He slipped the blade beneath the skin to free it from
the lower jaw, taking care not to cut through the face fur. Having the snout of the animal intact, snarling
above his own face, was vital to its effect.

Unconsciously Do-na-ti bared his own teeth as he worked the hide from the head, peeling it from torso
and legs almost without damage, except for the main cuts. He glanced up to see Ka-shi staring at his
face.