Read "The Flight to Lucifer" by Harold Bloom online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Perscors had followed the Scythians for only an hour when they came out of the undergrowth onto the bank of a narrow river, which must have been quite deep, as the waters moved very slowly. A small group of their company awaited them with a wide raft, which some of them boarded; the others clung to its sides as it crossed the deep stream. On the other bank, under the heavy branches of trees, another group of Scythians waited with the full war party's horses and with a boatwagon. Concealed among rushes, watching the crossing, Perscors wondered how he was to go on following them.
When they had landed and quickly cleared the other bank, moving beyond his sight among the trees, Perscors went down to the river. He drank some of the water, which was pleasant to the taste. Low-growing branches, like those of stunted fig trees, bore a peculiar fruit, beanshaped berries, varying in hue from black to ashy gray. Yet they were sweet and juicy, and Perscors ate as many of them as he could.