"Brackett, Leigh - Skaith 2 - Hounds Of Skaith" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brackett Leigh)

25/6/03 Ц billbo196 Ц sp. & punct, rem pg#s, cleaner formatting

"There's only one Leigh Brackett and there's only one Eric John StarkЧboth stand alone in their field!" ЧRay Bradbury
HEROIC ADVENTURE AT ITS BEST
A dangerous light had begun to kindle In Gerd's eyes. Abruptly the hound stood still, quivering in every muscle.
Stark braced himself.
The pack, by custom, would not interfere. This was between himself and Gerd.
"Kill, Gerd," said Gelmar quietly, his hand on the hound's shoulder. "This man will lead you all to death."
And Stark said, "You cannot kill me, Gerd. Remember Flay."
The bolt of fear struck him. It shriveled his brain and turned his bones to water. But Stark held his grip. And a fierce cry came from out of his deep past: "I am N'Chaka. I do not die!"
". . . the author proves again that she is a peerless spinner of adventure yarns."
ЧPublishers Weekly
"It's a story to be read and enjoyed, as all science
fiction once was and, hopefully, someday will be
again." -Marion Zimmer Bradley

BOOKS BY LEIGH BRACKET! Published by Ballantine Books
THE BEST OF LEIGH BRACKETT
THE BOOK OF SKAITH
Volume One: THE GINGER STAR Volume Two: THE HOUNDS OF SKAITH Volume Three: THE REAVERS OF SKAITH
THE LONG TOMORROW THE STARMEN OF LLYRDIS

THE
HOUNDS OF
SKAITH
Volume Two of The Book of Skaith
LEIGH BRACKETT

A Del Rey Book BALLANTINE BOOKS Х NEW YORK

A Del Rey Book
Published by Baliantine Books
Copyright й 1974 by Leigh Bracket! Hamilton
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Baliantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada, Limited, Toronto, Canada.
ISBN 0-345-28594-8
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition: October 1974 Third Printing: January 1980
First Canadian Printing: November 1974
Maps by Bob Porter
Cover art by James Steranko

For Michael and Hilary Moorcock

1
In her great hall, deep in the mountain heart of the glimmering Witchfires, Kell с Marg Skaith-Daughter sat upon the dais. Her throne was carved from rich brown rock the color of loamЧthe shape of it was a robed woman, seated to hold Skaith-Daughter on her knees, her arms curved protectively, her head bent forward in an attitude of affection. Kell с Marg sat with her hands on the hands of Skaith-Mother, and her slim white-furred body gleamed against the dark stone.
Below, at the foot of the dais, Yetko the Harsenyi sweated in his heavy garments, keeping his eyes averted from the Presence. He was overwhelmed by the crushing weight of mountain above him and by the labyrinthine strangeness of the House of the Mother, of which this luminous white chamber was the core and center. He was overwhelmed by being there at all. Yetko and his people had traded with these Children of Skaith-Our-Mother for generations, but the trading was done in a place outside the sacred House and never by such exalted ones as were gathered hereЧthe Clan Mothers and the counselors, the Diviners, Skaith-Daughter herselfЧall glittering in their fine harness and jeweled badges of rank. No other Harsenyi had ever stood where he was standing. Yetko knew that his being here was neither right nor normal, and he was afraid. But this was a time for fear and for fearful happenings, a time of breaking and sundering. He had already beheld the unthinkable. His having been brought here was surely a part of the madness that walked upon the world.
Kell с Marg spoke. Her voice was musical, with a sound of bells, but it was a voice of power nonetheless.
"You are the headman of the village?"
They both knew that she meant the permanent camp on the other side of the Plain of Worldheart. There was no other. The Harsenyi were nomads, carrying their houses with them as they moved. Yetko said:
"I am."