"Bennett, Marcia J - Ni-Lach 03 - Beyond the Draak's Teeth UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Marcia J)

Kion touched Bhaldavin's shoulder. "Be ready," he whispered. "If we're separated, go north to Val-hrodhur. You'll find sanctuary there."
Bhaldavin gripped his father's arm, chilled by the thought of separation.
Suddenly someone among the hidden Ni cried out and everyone started running, to scatter as the men charged
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the bushes along the river, shouting and waving their swords and taking aim with bows and arrows.
Bhaldavin's family was caught in the wild scramble, but they finally broke free. His mother ran in the lead, Telia clutched in her arms. Bhaldavin stayed at her heels, running close beside his father, who carried young Dhal-
vad.
More men appeared. Some Ni were captured and others were cut down as Sarissan swords spilled Ni blood without regard for age or sex.
Bhaldavin stumbled and almost fell. Heart racing, he caught his balance and tried to catch up with his father, who began to drop back.
Kion pushed Dhalvad into Bhaldavin's arms, then slapped him on the shoulder. "Follow your mother!"
Bhaldavin was too terrified to question or disobey. He shifted Dhalvad's weight to one hip and kept going.
"Run, Bhaldavin!" Kion yelled. "Run!"
Bhaldavin started awake, his heart pounding. He looked around the confines of Garv's cabin and remembered where he was. His thoughts went back to his dream.
No. Not a dream. Reality.
The Sarissa had declared war on the Ni-lach and had driven his people from their homes. His father had brought them to a place of supposed safety, but the men had followed.
The taste of fear he had felt that day was still with him. He brushed the stump of his arm. What happened after I started running? he wondered. What happened to my parents? Why can't I remember?
He sat up, frustrated in his attempt to remember beyond those frightening moments when he had run from Sarissan weapons. He looked across the room to the front door; it now stood closed. The man snored softly from
the other bunk.
Bhaldavin waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness,
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then he tried to untie the rope attached to his ankle cuff. But the cording had been wet and dried so many times that it had become welded into a solid knot.
He gave up and quietly gathered the rope in his hand. He had to leave, with or without the rope. He was almost sure Garv wasn't one of the Sarissa, a member of the ruling class among men, but Sarissan or not, Garv was still a man and, therefore, his enemy.
Garv snored on as Bhaldavin moved silently past him. When he reached the door, he found it bolted with a long wooden bar that was going to be difficult to raise using only one hand.
He set his rope carefully on the floor and moved to the middle of the door. He placed his hand under the center of the bar and lifted. He felt the right side come free, then the left.
Suddenly the bar tilted to the right and Bhaldavin lost his hold. He jumped backward as the bar clunked to the floor.
The noise woke the man.
Bhaldavin dove for the door handle and jerked the door open just as Garv heaved himself off the bed. He was five or six running steps out the doorway when he came up against the end of the rope, which had become entangled with the bar. He fell hard, knocking the air from his lungs. By the time he recovered, Garv was standing over him.
"Where you going, Little Fish? It's not morning yet."
Garv pulled Bhaldavin up and took him back inside. After lighting the candle that stood in the center of the table, he untangled the rope from the bar and pushed Bhaldavin back onto the bed. He then tied the ankle rope to one of the posts at the bottom of the bed. With another piece of cord, he lashed Bhaldavin's arm to the right-hand post above his head.
"No more wandering!" Garv admonished, pointing a finger in Bhaldavin's face. "Go to sleep now. Garv will tell you when it's morning."
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Angry words trembled on Bhaldavin's lips, but some inner warning cautioned him to silence. There was something definitely strange in the man's behavior. The way he talked to himself and his little fish made Bhaldavin
nervous.
Bhaldavin turned his head to the side and closed his eyes, swallowing his anger. There was an old Ni saying that it was better not to pull the gensvolf's tail without first counting its teeth, meaning that if Garv was mentally unbalanced, it would be foolish to antagonize him.
Garv blew out the candle flame and returned to bed, mumbling to himself.
Bhaldavin waited for Garv to settle down, then he tested the rope at his wrist. He found it secure; there would be no escaping that night.
Chapter 1
BHALDAVIN WOKE THE NEXT MORNING TO THE SOUND OF Gary's voice. The man's running conversation with himself continued as he prepared breakfast.
Garv wielded his knife with practiced skill. Within minutes he had filled two dishes with nabob roots cut into bite-sized pieces, over which he poured a hot, white gravy.
Garv looked up and grinned at Bhaldavin. "Little Fish hungry?" he asked, as he shambled toward the bed.
Not waiting for an answer, he reached for Bhaldavin's arm and pulled him to a sitting position. He placed a wooden plate of roots and gravy on the floor next to Bhaldavin's feet, then took his own plate to the small table and sat down.
"Little Fish will feel better if he eats something. Then we will go to the lake for a little while. Garv needs fish for trading."
Bhaldavin looked down at the orange roots swimming in the gravy. He was hungry, and he liked nabob roots
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both cooked and raw, but the gravy had a strange smell that made him hesitate.