"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 25 - The Terridae" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

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The Terridae by E. C.
Tubb.

Chapter One


He was small, brown, dressed in a upon of scarlet edged with
silver, a pointed cap on a rich tangle of curls and striped hose on
slender legs, a boy of about ten now caught in a mesh of
brambles with one foot snared in the clamped jaws of a vegetable
trap. On each wrist captive bells made a harsh jangling as he
waved his arms.

Dumarest had heard the sound as he crested the ridge and
tracked it to its source lower down the slope. Now, halting, he
eased the weight of the pack on his shoulders.

"Are you hurt?" Dumarest frowned as the boy shook his head.
"Can't you speak?"

Again the shake of the head, this time accompanied by the
thrust of a finger toward the opened mouth. A mute, trapped in
a prison of thorns, the bells his only means of calling for help. Yet
would such a boy be out alone?

Dumarest turned, eyes narrowed as he scanned the area. On
all sides the ground fell from the encircling hills to cup the
solitary town of Shard in a spined embrace. Matted grass broken
with tall fronds bright with lacelike blooms intermingled with
rearing brambles. Sprawling growths reared twice the height of
a man, bearing succulent berries and traps designed to snare
insects and small rodents. The branches and stems, some as
thick as a man's body, were covered with curved and vicious
barbs.

"Don't move!" Dumarest called the warning as, again, the air
shook to the desperate jangle of bells. "Just stay calm. I'll get you
out."

He studied the ground as the lad obeyed, noting marks in the
matted grass, the lie of stems. To one side a thorned branch had
been broken and sap oozed from the fracture. As he knelt to