LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

rel="nofollow" href="#note22" type="note">22 people.

      The locals treated the foreigners with cameras surprisingly peacefully, allowed them to spend the night and even invited them to participate in the festivities under the condition that all cameras remained in the car.

      In the evening, the whole village gathered near the round reed hut of the chief.

      Trevor was treated to some local drink made of the fruits of a marula23 that had a very unpleasant sour taste and affected the brain like a «blow from a mule’s hoof», as the locals joked. Sometime later, when Trevor began to recover, he realized that he almost could not feel his body and only his brain was clearly showing «signs of life». In addition, as it turned out later, the drink accelerated perception of his surroundings.

      Everyone was dancing to the beat of a sad song and rhythm of special, ritual drums carved from a tree trunk called a Bata. Later, the intensity of the drums increased so much that the movements of the dancers resembled convulsions. The volume of the chanting would sometimes muffle even the sounds of the Bata.

      One of the men set fire to a wide ring on the ground, evoking ominous shadows and reflections. The drums died down and everybody stopped to watch the circle of fire.

      An enchanter with a long staff, to which a dozen small white monkey skulls were attached, knocking loudly against each other in time with his movements, entered the circle through a narrow passage.

      The drums resumed their beat and the men and women began to dance synchronously.

      Not feeling his body, Trevor moved to the rhythm of the drums together with the rest.

      The enchanter was dressed in bright sheet that loosely fit his body.

      As thin as a skeleton, he bent over and began to spin inside the circle of fire. His face grew calm in the flashes of fire but it soon transformed into menacing grimaces. He gritted his thin, uneven, yellow teeth and shouted something in an unfamiliar language.

      Then suddenly he fell silent, stood up and raised his hand to the sky. Several small grey bones flew from his palm before scattering around him inside the circle of fire. The enchanter leaned forward and looked intently at the bones. Then he straightened up, stretched out his arms and began to whisper some spells while staring at the sky. His eyes, covered by a white fog, looked unnerving.

      The drumming grew faster, louder.

      The sorcerer, with his arms still spread wide, began to rise.

      When he reached a meter and a half above the ground, he dropped his staff.

      The dancing became more frenetic, and the volume of the singing increased, reaching its climax. Robert was reminded of a Witches’ Sabbath.

      The enchanter slowly began to descend, nodding his head sharply and staring with his blind eyes into the crowd around him, as if searching for prey. When his bare feet touched the ground, the sounds were dispersed by an abrupt silence.

      The old sorcerer kept his blind eyes on Trevor. He moved his arms forward and slowly approached through the circle of fire. Trevor stood frozen, deprived of any control over his own body. The enchanter touched his forehead with his palm. At that moment, the enchanter’s body bent back unnaturally and began to shake, his hand still glued to Trevor’s forehead. His cloudy eyes were directed somewhere in the distance, where a full, inverted moon shone as a pale witness to the Devil’s Sabbath.

      The convulsions stopped and the hand on Trevor’s forehead became incredibly hot. He tried to pull back, but his body remained beyond his control.

      Suddenly a terrifying picture appeared before Trevor’s eyes: an overturned railway car with the torn bodies of dozens of people. Charred human remains lay mixed up with broken seats, twisted handrails, scorched pieces of metal, and other ruined detritus. Fire began to roll down the car like a growing ball, as if in slow motion. It was unnerving and extremely realistic. Trevor even felt the furious flame that was about to engulf him on his face and the unbearable smell of burnt flesh all around.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

      Примечания

      1

      ¹ Azrael (Arabic – Azrāīl), or Malak al-Mawt (Arabic‎‎ —Angel of Death) is the Angel of Death in Islam and Judaism, who transports the souls of the dead to the other world.

      2

      Sigmund Freud (German Sigmund Freud), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1865, Freiburg, in the Austrian Empire (now Pribor, Czech Republic) – 23 September 1939, London, was an Austrian psychologist, psychiatrist and neurologist, the founder of psychoanalysis, a therapeutic field of psychology. He developed a methodology of free association and interpretation of dreams, which was the basis of psychoanalysis and formulated the concept of personality.

      3

      Tabla (Hindi tablā; Urdu tablah) – Indian percussion instrument. It is a pair of twin drums, the main percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, played as accompaniment with other instrument and vocals. Tabla also features in dance performances such as Kathak. It is also popular in the countries of the Indian subcontinent.

      4

      Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch: Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands – 27 March 1972, Laren, the Netherlands) was a Dutch graphic artist known for his conceptual lithographs, woodcuts and mezzotints, in which he explored plastic aspects of the notions of infinity and symmetry, and also psychological perception of complex three-dimensional objects.

      5

      Tov (Yiddish) — good, okay.

      6

      Carpathian Ruthenia (Czech Podkarpatská Rus, Země Podkarpatoruská; also Carpatho-Ukraine or Zakarpattia since September 1938 – Czech: Země Zakarpatskoukrajinská) – the name of one of five (later four) regions of the First Czechoslovak Republic 1919—1938 (from 26 October 1938 renamed Carpatho-Ukraine, an autonomous regions of the Second Czechoslovak Republic). The region is located in the modern-day Zakarpattia Region of Ukraine.

      7

      Rusyns (Ruthenians, Rusnaks) – name of Ukrainians before the 18^th century; in West Ukrainian regions – before the beginning of the 20^th century. The name is still used in Zakarpattia. Initially, the word «rusyn’ was used only in singular form as a derivative

Скачать книгу