"Feist, Raymond E & Wurts, Janny - The Empire Trilogy 03 - Mistress of the Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

Hokanu had once seen the effects of a poison dart; he
recognised the horse's shivering flesh and sudden lack
of coordination for what they were: the symptoms of

Tragedy

15

fast-acting venom. Had the dart struck Mara, death would
have taken seconds. In an animal ten times her size, the
end would be slower, and brutally painful. The horse
bellowed its agony, and a spasm shook its great frame.
It bared yellow teeth and fought !he bit, while Hokanu
again missed his grip. 'Poison, Ayaki!' he shouted over
the noise of the frantic horse. Hokanu lunged to catch
the stirrup, hoping to snatch the boy clear. I-he horse's
forelegs stiffened, bracing outward as the muscles locked
into extension. Then its quarters collapsed, and it toppled,
the boy caught like a burr underneath.

The of the heavy body striking earth mingled with
Mara's scream. Ayaki refused to leap free at the last. Still
riding his horse, he was swept sideways, his neck whipped
back as the force of the fall threw him across the path. The
horse shuddered and rolled over upon the boy.

Ayaki made no sound. Hokan' avoided a hedge of
thrashing hooves as he darted around the tormented
animal. He reached the boy's side in a bound, too late.
Trapped under the weight of dying, shivering horseflesh,
the child looked too pale to be real His dark eyes turned
to Hokanu's, and his one free hand reached out to grip that
of his foster father's a heartbeat ahead of death.

Hokanu felt the small, dirty fingers go limp inside his
own. He clung on in a rage of aerial. 'No!' he shouted,
as if in appeal to the gods. Mara's cries rang in his ears,
and he was aware of the warriors from her honor guard,
jostling him as they labored to shift the dead horse. The
gelding was rolled aside, the rush of air as its lungs deflated
moaning through its vocal cords. For Ayaki, there would be
no such protest at shattering, untimely death. The gelding's

withers had crushed his chest, and the ribs stood up from
mangled flesh like the broken shards of swords.

The young face with its too white cheeks stared yet,
open-eyed and surprised, at the untroubled sky overhead.

16 Mistress of the Empire