"Adams, Robert - Horseclans 01 - The Coming of the Horseclans" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adams Robert)

In weary resignation, Aldora opened her mouth to answer, only to have one of Old-Cat's big paws placed ove! it.

The cat's thought beamed out, menacing as a draws bow. "I, Old-Cat, am down here with a female, meddle some two-leg! Just because your shameless kind have n regard for the privacy of others, will not save youi haunches from my teeth. You proceed at your own peril!"

Beti's high soprano laughter pealed out. Then, witl obvious amusement, she mindspoke. "Old-Cat, indeed! That's an alias, if I ever heard one. Enjoy yourselves, the tribe needs the kittens. Nevertheless, if either of you see a Blackhair slave-girl, chase her back to Clan Linsee. Mind you though, don't hurt her. I don't think she has run away. She's a good girl and probably just asleep somewhere." Hoofs thud-thudded as her mount cantered back toward the camp.

Milo and Mara sat at what had been Lord Simos' council table. Across from them sat Blind Hari, flanked by Old-Cat and Horsekiller. As all were capable of mind-speak, only the rasp of their breathing broke the stillness.

"How long have you known of me?" inquired Milo, still somewhat stunned at Hari's revelation.

The old man smiled. "Almost from the day of your return, God Milo. Though I could not see you, others could and I could use their eyes. My father was a young man when you left us, and you were just as he described you to me. Eighteen years agone, God Milo, I tried to read you, then I knew! I could but barely see the beginning of your lifeЧlying, as it does, so many hundreds of years in the pastЧand I could not even sense an end. Who could have such a mind, save a God?"

"Then, you've known for nearly twenty years, Bard Hari. Why have you not spoken before this time? Why wait until now?"

Blind Hari settled himself against the backrest of his chair, regarding Milo's face through Horsekiller's eyes. "Though you, unlike mere men, God Milo, can shield off portions of your mind, I sensed that you knew or suspected my knowledge, yet you said nothing. I am a very old man, God MiloЧnearly one and one-half hundreds of ivintersЧand age has vouchsafed me two things: patience and wisdom. How much greater than mine must be the wsdom of one who has lived four times my age and nore, who knew birth at a time when all men were as ;ods? Though but a man, yet could I perceive thatЧwhen he time was as it must beЧeither the God would tell the nan or the man would tell the God. That time is now, iod Milo."

"And you, Cat-brother?" Milo questioned Horsekiller. "I have known since kittenhood that your mind was not as other men's, God Milo."

Milo had had more than enough. He slammed one fist upon the tabletop and both cats blinked. "That's sufficient subservience. I'm no Ehleenoee, dammit! If you must give me a title, let it be War Chief or Cat-friend or, better yet, none at all."

"The God speaks, His servants obey," replied Blind Hari aloud. He was broadly smiling and a hint of gentle sarcasm tinged his over-humble voice.

Mara had been watching and listening, and now her laughter trilled. "You speak with all the conviction of an Ehleenoee priest, 'Father' Hari. But you must have a very good reason for disclosing your knowledge at this time. What urgency has impelled you, Man of Powers?"

". . . and so, keeping under the cover of the creek bank, I brought her here, to my Cat-brother, Bard Hari."

After Old-Cat had recounted his portion of the tale, Milo shrugged. "I lived among the Northern Ehleenoee foi some years. While mindspeak is rare among their race, it is not unheard of. Over the course of years and centuries, races tend to mingle. I suspect that many who think of themselves as pure embody more than a trace of the blood of the fair races.

"As for the fact that the girl dislikes her lot. . . ." He shrugged again. "Few slaves do, not in the beginning. And you have probably earned her a beating, Old-Cat, by keep ing her this long from her owner's clan-camp."

Old-Cat bared his teeth and gave vent to a hair-rasing snarl of unadulterated menace.

"The cub has suffered enough! Much more suffering and her thought-mind will depart her little body. She has neither the maturity nor the training to control or prevent such. By my fangs and claws, the two-leg who seeks to hurt her more shall be found intestineless! Beware, Old-Cat makes not false threats!"

"If such is your feeling," replied Milo, "the answer is simple: buy her. I am sure that your personal shares from the Black-Horse battle would be more than enough to pay a fair price for her, and if they are not, borrow from your clan; Chief Horsekiller is both generous and understanding."

"That has been attempted, Friend Milo," interjected Horsekiller. "Clan Linsee refuses to sell her. Chief Rik and his brother, Hwahlis, became quite angry when my emissary, Black-Claw, would not tell him where she was."

Milo grimaced. "That, I don't doubt, Cat Chief! Men like not to lose a new and but half-tried female."

Mara turned on him bristling. "Sometimes, you are disgusting, my husband, and I can but wonder that I chose to marry you!"

Hari beamed his thought at her. "It is meet that you should defend the poor slave, Lady Goddess, for, though she has yet to see her twelfth year . . ."

"What?" Milo shouted aloud. "Has Clan Linsee, then, ceased to honor the Law? Slave-girl or clan-girl, I set the age of taking at fourteen!"

"And the Law, like all your Law, has proven just and good for clan and tribe." Hari nodded sagely. "Little AldoraЧfor that is her name, Aldora Ahpooh'osЧsays that she has tried ceaselessly to tell her ravishers her age and beg them to leave off abusing of her body, but she has only a few words of Merikan and could speak only in Ehleeneekos. The mercenaries who first raped her understood; but she is quite womanlike for her age, and they convinced her buyer, Hwahlis Linsee, that she was older, I am sure, for Hwahlis is a brave and honorable man and a respecter of the Law."

"Then, when he is made aware of truth, he . . ." Milo broke off at the shake of Bard Hari's old head.