"Raymond E. Feist - Conclave of Shadows 3 - Exile's Return" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

It took total control on Kaspar's part not to move when an ungentle boot prodded
him to see if he was truly unconscious. Then the two men departed.
Kaspar waited and when he was certain they were gone, he chanced a peek and
caught a glimpse of the men's backs as they walked around the tent.
He sat up.
He fought to keep his mind focused on what he was hearing, and started to
wrestle with his bindings. The danger would be to become so intent upon escaping he
wouldn't hear anyone approach. He knew his best chance for escape was this first
night, while they thought him still unconscious. He had very few advantages. They
probably knew the surrounding countryside and were experienced trackers.
His only edge was surprise. Kaspar was a skilled enough hunter to know what
cunning prey could do. He needed at least an hour's start on his captors, but first he
had to free himself of the leather bindings around his wrist.
He gave in to the unreasonable desire to test the bindings, and found them tight
enough to cause pain when he tried to pull his hands apart. He couldn't see, but they
felt like rawhide.
If he could get them wet they would stretch and he might be able to slip them off.
After a futile period of struggle, he turned his attention to the rope he could see.
He knew he would have little chance of getting the rope off the peg without bringing
down the entire tent, but he could think of no other option. He had to turn first one
way, then the other, to come to the conclusion that this was impossible with his hands
tied behind him.
Kaspar sat and waited. As the hours dragged by, the camp quietened. He heard
footsteps and once more feigned unconsciousness as someone came to check on him
before turning in for the night. He let minutes drag by until he was certain that those
inside the tent were asleep. Then he sat up. He glanced at the sky and was greeted
with a display of alien stars. Like most men of his ocean-going nation, he could
navigate by the stars, either on land or sea, but above him lay constellations unknown.
He would have to rely upon basic navigation skills until he became used to the
display above. He knew where the sun had set, marked in his mind by a spiral of rock
in the distance he had glimpsed just before sunset. Which meant he knew where north
was.
North and east was his most likely route home. Kaspar had read sufficiently to
know where the continent of Novindus lay, relative to Olasko. Depending on where
on this continent he found himself, his best chance to get to Olasko was to work his
way to a place called the City of the Serpent River. There was almost no trade
between this land and those on the other side of the world, but whatever trade there
was started in that city. From there he could find his way to the Sunset Isles, and from
there to Krondor. Once in the Kingdom of the Isles, he could walk home if he had to.
He knew he was almost certain to fail in the attempt, but whatever was to happen
to him, let it happen as he struggled to return home.
Home, he thought bitterly. A day earlier he had been home, ruling his nation,
before being taken captive in his own citadel, defeated by a former servant he had
thought as good as dead. He had spent the night in chains considering the dramatic
reversal of fortune that had overwhelmed him, and had fully expected to be hanged by
now.
Instead, Talwin Hawkins, his former servant, had forgiven him, and he had been
banished to this distant land. Kaspar was uncertain as to what exactly had transpired
over the previous few days. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he had truly been
himself for the last few years.