Yes, I know. Only now you all look terrible and your voices seem to be heard from a cave, «Salas said slowly and cautiously. «Varnus taught that such visions…» the teenager did not have time to explain himself, when suddenly something plopped onto the tent outside – a small, but obviously weighty, stirred up the leather fabric of the building.
Then an incomprehensible rustle was heard both behind the tent and to the right of the entrance to it. The tribesmen were worried.
«I hear…» Salas was about to say something again, but Vall stopped him:
– Shh!
The strange rustle continued, and its repetitions began to appear around the halabud from all sides. The relatives looked at each other and froze.
«Weapons at the ready now!» Wall whispered. – No noise. No sound.
The hunters grabbed spears, knives, clubs and bows, and those who had bone helmets began to put them on.
– Let’s make a circle! Salas, hide among the bags. Fast! the shaman continued to whisper commands, pulling a helmet from the skull of Razavr over his head. «Rylan, cover him with skin and needles!»
Salas nodded and immediately buried himself among the slaughter, and the young hunter threw a bedding and stocked branches of odorous trees on him.
– Rustle of wings, Val! one of the trackers whispered. – Pterosaurs?!
– Yah! They sleep at night! the leader objected. Razorwings, maybe?
«Yes, it looks like it, Val,» Iris agreed. – There are palm trees everywhere and ferns – almost a jungle. Razorwings, apparently, flocked.
Suddenly, the curtain at the entrance to the tent moved, and from below the head of a flying lizard appeared from under the curtain. The relatives started up, and the reptile, frightened by the people, made a disgusting squeak and disappeared on the other side of the lodging for the night. The tribesmen breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their guns.
– Paw-covered?! Wall was surprised.
What do they need in the field? said the grey-haired hunter. – They are without trees – easy prey for any predator. Really Lazuny exhausted in the liana forests?!
Small lizards – the size of an elbow – instead of forelimbs had paws with wide membranes. Underwings, as the first people called them, allowed Pawwings to cover short distances, flying from branch to branch. Out in the open, Pawwings never showed up unless they intended to be eaten. Flying reptiles hunted mainly on the same small ones as they are – Lazunov, Piskunov and Nyrkov. And the most important thing is that Pawwings ran with difficulty on the ground, and of course, their appearance in the bennettite expanses caused bewilderment among all hunters.
«Very strange, indeed,» agreed Kuhn. «And judging by the rustle, there are dozens of them outside. I suggest you don’t even bother!
«Do you think they’ll attack us?» Iris turned to the shaggy tracker.
– There’s a whole bunch of them! Who knows what’s on their minds? And they are unlikely to climb here, «Kun reasoned.
«You will, don’t panic,» Vall whispered. «It’s just Pawwings. Maybe they decided to fly to the carcass of Long-necked.
– Fly? Taro was surprised. «It’s a few hundred steps to the liana forest!»
Suddenly, a disgusting squeak and wheezing, rustling and squealing began to be heard from all sides. The hunters shuddered and again prepared to fight back. Whoever is there.
«What else is this?» Arwen pricked up his ears.
«Looks like the Lazoons have come,» Tris whispered.
«The Lazoons have come to profit,» said Kuhn.
Lazoons very much looked like Raptors, or rather, their cubs, as if the latter had not grown up and remained to be Lazoons. Noisy and importunate lizards dwelt in every corner of Pangea where hunters had ever set foot. In addition to dragonflies, horned beetles, butterflies and eggs of all sorts of reptiles, Lazoons allowed themselves to live with Pisks, Divers, and the same Pawwings, which occasionally descended to the ground. And it happened that two-legged rogues hung around the camps, striving to find loopholes and feast on dried meat from pantry tents or pits, for which they were always punished by sentinels, that is, they were killed – despite the precepts of the sages about the keepers of balance, the murder of any predator who desired the food of the first people, was considered right and for the good of the tribe.
The tribesmen whispered, agreeing with Tris and Kun’s assumption, and outside the tent a real hunt began! The reptiles could be heard rushing around the building, rumbled and rushed at each other. The rustle of wings, thumps on the ground, the swaying of the walls of the tent, hissing and other fuss completely disturbed the rest of the hunters.
«Listen,» Vall began to be indignant, «this little thing will not let us sleep, and we definitely won’t be able to rest before the road!» Therefore, I propose to light torches and disperse these rogues. If need be, we’ll finish off a couple. Both those and others! The rest will run away.
«What if the larger carnivores notice the flames?» Iris hesitated.
«We’ll disperse the trifle and put it out right there!» – supporting the idea of the leader, said Kun.
The hunters, without hesitation, nodded and approved of the decision of Vall and Kun, and then began to set fire to the lights.
– I, Kun, Iris and Taro – bring the eye to life! the shaman gave the command. The rest are our human eyes! And you, Tyrant, sit here with Salas and don’t go anywhere! Is everything clear to everyone?
«Yes, yes, yes,» the relatives unanimously assured the order of the leader.
– I’m going out first. Tris, you’re my guide, so keep your eyes peeled for me! Vall alerted and, holding the torch in front of him, turned the eyes of the hunter and silently jumped out. Tris, along with the others, followed the leader.
Zavrini’s eyes in the night, in the presence of a fiery element nearby, lost their legible visibility of the surrounding world. Not only did the specter darken the radiance of the Moon and stars and turn the ordinary colors of Her abode into gray shades, but the flames of fire became too bright and did not allow one to focus on the nearby details of the area: it was quite possible for oneself not to notice a stone, a large snag under one’s feet, or some other obstacle, stumble, or worse, fall to the ground. In addition, the reptiles themselves – their flesh – in the dark hours of the day with the eyes of Zavrini were visible and distinguishable only at a distance of twenty or thirty steps, no more! This opposition of the elements – night darkness and fire – and the short-sightedness of the incarnation of the eyes did not allow hunters to confidently go hunting at night. And no one, by the way, in the tribe of the first people since the death of Lasso did not approve of night hunting!
But for the lizards, for some unknown reason, the flame of fire was especially bewitching, but the reptiles were afraid to come close. And since the fire interfered with Zavrini’s eyes and was needed overnight to frighten Lazunov and Lapokrylov, the human eye and the reptilian gaze in the current situation at the tent were needed at the same
