"John Dalmas - Yngling 3 - The Circle of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

warriors think necessary, will help them, providing the necessary wood and
doing whatever else is needed. These freemen will be equally of the Glutton
and Wolf Clans.
тАЬAt nightfall of the second day, four warriors
will be at each pyre, two each from the Seals and the Bulls. They will light
the pyres. The fires must be kept burning high till dawn. When the men at one
fire can see the other, two of the warriors from each fire will ride toward
the other, as straight as they can. It is important that they ride straight,
because their trails must make a straight line between the fires, between the
corner cairns.
тАЬThey will continue until they come to the
stream, where they will set a tall stake in the bank on their side, tall
enough to be seen plainly from fifty doubles [about eighty meters], tying a
flag to the top.
тАЬThe other warriors, with freemen to help
them, will follow the trail of the two through the grass. They will have oxen,
and drag sleds with stones and long stakes on them. From time to time they
will set a stake in the trail, with rocks set against it. Each stake must be
visible from the two stakes nearest behind it. They will also put rocks around
the stakes at the stream. Afterward the freemen, supervised by the eight, will
drag more rocks to all those places, and build cairns as tall as a man. Each
cairn must have a pole three spans tall sticking out the top, and the row of
cairns must form a straight line. The Gluttons and Wolves must provide as many
freemen for the task as the eight warriors require. The line will henceforth
be as marked by the new cairns, and the old cairns will be torn down.тАЭ
Nils J├дrnhann paused, turning his face from
side to side around the council circle. Ingenious! thought Baver. That not
only takes care of the dispute, it establishes a procedure any clan can use on
its own.
But the lagman wasnтАЩt done yet. тАЬThis
dispute,тАЭ he went on, тАЬcreates a debt to the warriors who solve it, and to
their clans. Therefore, their clans will each receiveтАЭ -- he paused, then
repeated тАЬ -- will each receive a payment of twenty heifer calves and twenty
bull or ox calves, to be selected by the eight warriors. In addition, each of
the eight warriors will be paid two saddle horses, which he can select from
all the horses of the clan responsible. The clan which pays will be the clan
that was in error on the line. Therefore, before the old cairns are torn down,
the eight warriors will determine on which side of the new line the old cairns
stand. If all the old cairns, all of them, stand within ten spans of the new
line, or are on the GluttonтАЩs side, the Glutton Clan will be held blameless,
and the Wolf Clan will pay. Otherwise the Glutton Clan will pay.тАЭ
BaverтАЩs eyes found the two chieftains. Ulf
Varjsson showed grim satisfaction. J├д├дvklo, on the other hand, had darkened
with anger and chagrin. Meanwhile Nils J├дrnhann spoke on. тАЬAs to the request
for feud rights growing out of the fight at the old stream cairns, they are
refused both to clans and septs. Tomorrow at high noon, the two septs will
each have ten warriors at the fighting ground, ready for a fight with hands
and feet.
тАЬAnd if any of those chosen enter the fight
with a weapon, he will be declared outlaw and fair game, with only a single