"David Eddings - Belgariad 5 - Enchanter's End Game" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

Part One

GAR OG NADRAK



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Chapter One

THERE WAS, GARION decided, something definitely mournful about the sound of
mule bells. The mule was not a particularly loveable animal to begin with,
and there was a subtle difference to his gait that imparted a lugubrious
note to a bell hung about his neck. The mules were the property of a
Drasnian merchant named Mulger, a lanky, hard-eyed man in a green doublet,
who - for a price - had allowed Garion, Silk, and Belgarath to accompany
him on his trek into Gar og Nadrak. Mulger's mules were laden with trade
goods, and Mulger himself seemed to carry a burden of preconceptions and
prejudices almost as heavy as a fully loaded mule pack. Silk and the worthy
merchant had disliked each other at first sight, and Silk amused himself by
baiting his countryman as they rode eastward across the rolling moors
toward the jagged peaks that marked the boundary between Drasnia and the
land of the Nadraks. Their discussions, hovering just on the verge of
wrangling, grated on Garion's nerves almost as much as the tiresome
clanging of the bells on Mulger's mules.

Garion's edginess at this particular time came from a very specific source.
He was afraid. There was no point in trying to conceal that fact from
himself. The cryptic words of the Mrin Codex had been explained to him in
precise detail. He was riding toward a meeting that had been ordained since
the beginning of time, and there was absolutely no way he could avoid it.
The meeting was the end result of not one, but two distinct Prophecies, and
even if he could persuade one of them that there had been a mistake
someplace, the other would drive him to the confrontation without mercy or
the slightest consideration for his personal feelings.

"I think you're missing the point, Ambar," Mulger was saying to Silk with
that kind of acid precision some men use when talking to someone they truly
despise. "My patriotism or lack of it has nothing to do with the matter.
The well-being of Drasnia depends on trade, and if you people in the
Foreign Service keep hiding your activities by posing as merchants, it
won't be long before an honest Drasnian isn't welcome anywhere." Mulger,