"Myst - 01 - The Book Of Atrus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Rand)

the walls, yet at times like this he felt torn-torn between his longing to see
the caravan and the wish that his grandmother did not have to work so hard to
get the things they needed to survive.

She was almost done now. He watched her hand over the things she'd grown or made
to trade-the precious herbs and rare minerals, the intricately carved stone
figures, and the strange, colorful iconic paintings that kept the traders coming
back for more-and felt a kind of wonder at the degree of her inventiveness.
Seven years he had lived with her now; seven years in this dry and desolate
place, and never once had she let them go hungry.

That in itself, he knew, was a kind of miracle. Knew, not because she had told
him so, but because he had observed with his own lensed eyes the ways of this
world he inhabited, had seen how unforgiving the desert was. Each night,
surviving, they gave thanks.

He smiled, watching his grandmother gather up her purchases, noting how, for
once, one of the younger traders made to help her, offering to lift one of the
sacks up onto her shoulder. He saw Anna shake her head and smile. At once the
man stepped back, returning her smile, respecting her independence.

Loaded up, she looked about her at the traders, giving the slightest nod to each
before she turned her back and began the long walk back to the cleft.

Atrus lay there, longing to clamber down and help her but knowing he had to stay
and watch the caravan until it vanished out of sight. Adjusting the lenses, he
looked down the line of men, knowing each by the way they stood, by their
individual gestures; seeing how this one would take a sip from his water bottle,
while that one would check his camel's harness. Then, at an unstated signal, the
caravan began to move, the camels reluctant at first, several of them needing
the touch of a whip before, with a grunt and hoarse bellow, they walked on.

Atrus?

Yes, grandmother?

What did you see?

I saw great cities in the south, grandmother, and men-so many men ...

Then, knowing Anna would be expecting him, he began to make his way down.

* * *

As Anna rounded the great arm of rock, coming into sight of the deft, Atrus
walked toward her. Concealed here from the eyes of the traders, she would
normally stop and let Atrus take a couple of the sacks from her, but today she
walked on, merely smiling at his unspoken query.

At the northern lip of the cleft she stopped and, with a strange, almost