"Tracy Falbe - The Rys Chronicles 03 - Judgment Rising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Falbe Tracy)

as soon as he entered the settlement and looked down on the colorful field beside the dim line of
the old road.

He smiled, thinking fondly of his wife. He was proud of Miranda for struggling through her grief over
ElendraтАЩs death and taking her place beside him as a leader of their people. Together, they were
committed to building a great legacy to give to their children.

Even with such ambitious plans between them, these years had easily been the best of their lives.
Miranda treasured her freedom and Dreibrand could see that she appreciated the love and
kindness that had entered her life. And, after so much war and killing, Dreibrand enjoyed the peace
the last five years had given him.

Sometimes he marveled at the changes in his life. Once he had led armies and proved his courage
and strength at the front lines. For a time he had craved such glory, and then for a time, the activity
had been necessary. Now he had concerns like making fields for his people to till, breeding
livestock, finding trails, building shelters, and raising a family. This was an infinitely more satisfying
life, but in his heart, Dreibrand knew that harsher trials than city planning waited in his future.

The setting sun bathed the mountain overlooking the settlement with orange and golden light.
Across the valley, the two mountains that flanked the opening where the valley met the prairie cast
their broad shadows over the forest. At midsummer, the sun could be seen from Elendra setting
exactly between the mountains.

Although the beautiful vista inspired Dreibrand, his thoughts turned to worry. As five years had
gone by in Nufal, he imagined what was happening in Atrophane. Despite the distance, he
estimated that the appetites of the Atrophane Empire would be craving to make a main course of
the Wilderness. Over the past two summers, Atrophaney envoys had gone to the city of Jingten to
open relations with the rys. Dreibrand and his people had avoided them while observing their
passing.

Although by birth Dreibrand Veta was an Atrophane noble, he had chosen to live in exile. He
expected that Atrophaney encroachment on the Wilderness would eventually lead to conflict, and
the thought of confrontation with his estranged countrymen troubled him deeply.

But tonight was not for plotting his international affairs. He and his companions focused on the
more primal task of reasserting humanity to the Wilderness. The men were already piling the
firewood left from last year in front of the old city walls for a bonfire. Their informal revels were
developing into rituals, and Dreibrand had no doubt that they would make quite a spectacle
tonight.

The dancing and singing had emerged out of a larger need than wanting entertainment, although it
was that too. The settlers had needed a way to believe that they had some protection from the old
spirits of Nufal, who had died in the ancient holocaust. Every settler had helped to give a decent
burial to the bits and pieces that they often found where long ago a life had been claimed by the
wraiths, or the Deamedron, as they had been known.
Tonight, when their voices filled the valley up to the stars and the bonfire blazed inside the ring of
dancers, they would announce to the land that people had come back to live in Nufal. Hopefully, the
noise and energy of the ritual would convince the old spirits to move on and inform the wild animals
that humans had come to take territory.