"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 2 - Dragon Token" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

The horn's note was deep, resonant, and deafening. Torien, out in the pastures on his duties as chief steward, swore later that the sheep and goats turned to stone and the plow-elk stopped in their tracks.

"And I didn't even put much breath into it," Nialdan reported proudly. "Can you imagine what it will do when I reallyЧ"

"Spare us, please!" Deniker begged.

A few days later, standing on the balustrade above the main gate, Andry heard the horn and winced. Nialdan had taken it to the top of Goddess Keep and pointed it out to sea, and still his ears were numbed by the sound. But it worked. The people in the camp below came to an abrupt halt, frozen even as the last echoes died away.

"Well, it certainly does get their attention," Valeda remarked at his side. "How's your leg?"

"Fine." He resisted the urge to shift his weight.

"You shouldn't be on it too long."

"I'm fine," he repeated impatiently.

She gave a snort. "You couldn't bear to miss this, could you?"

"I've got to find out if they'll obey the signal."

"And obey Lady JayachinЧexcuse me, Master Jaya-chin," she corrected sweetly.

Twenty strong young men, all wearing white tunics hastily donned at the horn's signal, were moving among the tents now, urging everyone to proceed in an orderly fashion into Goddess Keep. Jayachin was nowhere to be seen. Andry supposed she was testing the efficiency of her little band of helpers, or waiting to see if an appearance was needed. He was amused by the notion that she had learned the trick of strengthening one's authority until one's actual presence was unnecessary for one to be obeyed.

But the refugees hadn't yet completely accepted her rule. They resisted herding. Her white-clad functionaries

did their best, but everyone tried to make for their own tents and possessions.

"A trifle lacking in discipline, I'd say," Valeda observed.

"This is only the first practice. They'll learn. Besides, if the shepherds come running with news of Vellant'im marching over the hills, they'll do what they're supposed to right enough."

"Clever of you to spread the notion that it's for their own peace of mind. That they'll feel better with walls around them during an attack."

"We can't tell them the truth, can we?" And the truth was that even with the new devr'im quickly trained to replace Oclel and Rusina, they had not been able to extend the ros'salath much beyond the keep itself. "Ah, there she is," Andry said, pointing to the tall white figure now mounting a horse.

"I do hope she doesn't fall off. So detrimental to the dignity."

"Why don't you go down and help? I'm sure everyone would benefit from your adviceЧas I regularly do," he added with sarcasm to match hers.

"My Lord is too kind. He is also too obvious in wanting to be rid of me." Valeda eyed his lame leg again. "You won't be able to use it for a whole day after standing on it so long, you know."

He ignored her, and after another few moments she went away. When he heard the last of her footsteps on the stone stairs, he immediately took his weight from his bad leg. Valeda was right; tomorrow he'd be too sore and stiff to walk. But it wasn't necessary to walk. Only to ride.

Andry leaned his elbows on the stones, watching the chaos below him resolve into order at Jayachin's commands. An efficient woman, that one; a born leader. When all this was over, he'd have to secure a position for her more worthy of her talents than running a merchant house in Waes. If Pol could make Rialt a lord regent, surely Andry could reward similar ability in simi-

lar fashion. He'd take it up with his cousin when he saw him.

But Jayachin would not become athri of a new town around Goddess Keep. Andry wanted these people gone as soon as possible. His eyes were offended by the crush of tents and shelters; his nose objected to the inevitable stink of inadequate sanitation; his ears ached with the noise of adult arguments and children's squabbles and screeching babies. The area and the sensibilities of those in Goddess Keep simply could not support a permanent presence.