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

"Hwahlis is not the problem, nor is he the Law-defiler, War Chief. It is Ms brother Chief Rik of Linsee. He fully understood and took her anyway, often and brutally! She knows he understood, for when they were alone once, he spoke to her in her own tongue, told her that as soon as she began to learn to speak Merikan, he would have her killed.

She did not know the reason for this or why her death should be necessary, but we do!

"It has been long and long since a chief of the Horse-clans has defied the Law. Rik of Linsee must not go unpunished. He knows the extent of his crime and is frightenedЧBlack-Claw said that he reeked of fear. Though Hwahlis likes Aldora, he would have sold her; but Rik convinced the clansmen to refuse to sell.

"Also, War Chief and War Chief's wife, there is another thing that you must know: Though Ehleenoee-born, this child is of your sacred race, the Race of Gods!"

Horsekiller and Old-Cat strode into the Clan Linsee chief-tent. Chief Rik neither rose in deference to Horse-killer as Cat chief nor gave greeting. His mindspeak was flat and more than a little hostile. "Well, yet two more flea-factories today! Has the Cat Chief come to return my clan's property that they took away? Where is she?"

"I come," said Horsekiller, trying hard to keep his lip down and his claws in, "to summon you and one of your clansmen, Hwahlis Linsee, to the War Chiefs stone tent, within Green-Walls. If you refuse to come, Old-Cat and I have orders to hamstring you and drag you there! The council sits and will judge you and your clansman for deliberate defilement of the Law."

Though obviously stunned by the pronouncement, Hwahlis was just as puzzled; Rik, on the other hand, paled to ashiness and his hand crept toward his saber-hilt reflexively. His self-admitted guilt gave evidence that all could easily see and, muttering, gripping at Sun-talisman or the hilts of their sacred steel, his clansmen tightened their circle, edging away from him.

Arm cradling his telling-harp, Vinz Linsee, the clan bard, rose and mindspoke Horsekiller. "How speaks Blind Hari, Tribe-Bard and Sage of the Law, on this, Cat Chief?"

The big cat replied with ominous solemnity. "It is he who brings the charge, oh, Clan-Bard."

Bard Vinz hung his head in shame. Such a charge from such a man was dishonor enough; but if, as he suspected from Chief Rik's appearance and behavior, it were adjudged true, then the clan could claim no honor, past, present, or future.

"Well?" snarled Chief Rik. "Speak up, useless-maker-of-useless-songs. Must I go or do we fight?"

Those clansmen who had been grasping hilts let them go, as if red hot, and hastily averted their eyes from their accused chief.

"You and Hwahlis must go," answered Vinz with as much dignity as he could muster. "Under such a charge, it were further Law-defilement to draw steel against sum-moners or council."

"And, raper-of-kittens," put in Old-Cat, who had moved quite near to Chief Rik, "if your hand does not depart from your saber hilt quickly, it will depart from your arm immediately!"

At the beginning, Chief Rik denied all: threatening the slave's life, understanding her tongue or speaking to her in it, even having had knowledge of her flesh. He swore sword-oath that the charge was false, calling on Sun and Wind to witness his oath's verity, but the Test of the Cat, administered by Horsekiller's delegate, Old-Cat, broke him. As the teeth pierced his scalp and grated on bone, he screamingly admitted his deceptions and the blasphemies with which he had attempted to cover his misdeeds.

Bard Vinz and Hwahlis hung their heads and wept that their chief should so dishonor his clan. All the Linsee warriors were summoned to hear the foresworn man's re-recital of his crimes. When he had finished, Milo rose and addressed the council.

"Kindred, at the fight on the hill, when there were no more arrows in our cases and all seemed lost, two brave men rose amid the foemen's arrow-rain and precipitated a falling of rocks which, though it killed them, stopped the charge of the iron-shirts and preserved their kindred. Both those valiant ones bore the clan-name of Linsee. "The heinous misdeeds of Rik, Chief of Linsee, should be broadcast among all the tribe, to the irreparable dishonor of his clan. You Chiefs know what this will mean. As a dishonored clan has no place in the tribe, they will be banished. The kindred will drive them out of tribe territory, that their dishonored blood may never pollute that of the other clans."

While he had been speaking, the weeping Linsee warriors had begun to voice a low moan. Clan dishonor and banishment from the tribe were the worst things that could befall them. After such, death would be a mercy.

"But, Chiefs," Milo continued, "to save the honor of such a clan as produced the Heroes of the Rock, I ask that the council grant a boon."

Several of the chiefs growled at once. "What would you, War Chief?"

"Allow RikЧwho is clan-chief as well as chief malefactorЧto personally expiate his clan's dishonor. Allow him to reject his chiefhood, divorce his wives, give up his title to any clan-property, save only some clothing and a little food and a mule. Then allow him to ride away, bearing only dirk and ax and spear, for he has lost, by his blasphemies, the right to bear sword or bow or shield. And let him be declared outlaw, to be slain if ever he returns."

No longer moaning, the Linsee warriors looked up, hope glimmering in their teary eyes; but Rik shattered their hopes.

Chapter 12

A chief, with two sons,
Gained three more and a daughter.
Two score and two chiefs