"Chalker, Jack L - Rings 1 - Lords Of The Middle Dark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

life of a warrior and hunter, and I mourn when those like you are returned to us
against their will."
Hawks frowned. "Anybody I know?"
"I think not. A younger couple, Sly Like Coyote and Song of the Half Moon. I am
not sure where they worked, but it was somewhere out beyond the setting sun.
Their jobs were meaningless to me, although he was always good with numbers. Not
like you. History I can more than comprehend. I could see no use in science
which is not practical."
Hawks nodded gravely. It was one of the fears they all lived with, those who had
been chosen, because of some talent or ability, to leave the tribes and go up to
the Councils. Then one traded the simplicity of tribal life and the absoluteness
of its culture for a far different existence, subject to a tremendous level of
authority right up to the Masters themselves. There all the wonders and comforts
were available, but the price was always to walk a careful line and never
challenge, even accidentally, any part of the hierarchy. No one was so essential
that he was not subject to others above, and no one was above being replaced.
He tried to remember the two but could not. Certainly if he discovered their
parents and their lineage, he could at least place them, but it wasn't really
worth the bother. What he would want to know -- what they had done that had caused
them to be returned -- neither they nor anyone else he could question could tell
him. The only thing certain was that it had been something serious. Even the
most petty did not send down subordinates for arbitrary or personal reasons; the
procedure was too involved, and the justifications had to be shown and proved up
and down the line. Too much had been invested in everyone of Council level to
allow anything less.
What had the young man been? Hawks wondered. A computer expert, perhaps? An
astronomer, or physicist, or pure mathematician? Years of training, sweat, hard
work -- all gone. Replaced with other memories, other views, that made them good
members of the tribe. Now a man who once, perhaps, dealt with complex equations
and a woman who, at the very least, was expert in running his models on
sophisticated computer equipment got up each morning and prayed to the spirits
and the Creator and had no knowledge of or curiosity about anything beyond the
tribe.
"You have not done anything to merit their fate, have you?" the old man asked
quietly.
Hawks was startled. "Huh? I hope not. Why do you ask?"
"There has been a demon stalking about in the tall grass. We wonder who or what
he is after. Certainly not any of us."
"A Val? Here?" The thought made him uneasy. He was an obvious target. "For how
long now?"
"Four days, perhaps more. I think then that you cannot be the quarry, after all.
You are here but two days, after all. They could have picked you up far easier
before you arrived here, could they not?"
He nodded. "Yes, that is true. Still, I wonder what the thing can be after? I do
not like the idea of one of them around, no matter who the object is."
He was less confident than he tried to sound. Why would anyone send a Val here?
Could it be here on sheer suspicion? He'd been required to get a readout taken
before he left to rejoin the tribe, but there were many such readouts being
taken at any given time. They weren't all evaluated. There were only a few Vals
on the whole planet; they couldn't possibly discover anything so minor except by