"David Gemmell - Rigante 4 - Stormrider" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gemmel David)

north-west cabin with his wife and two surviving children. His oldest son had died two years ago.
Employed by Maev Ring to watch over the stock in these mountain pastures Finbarr patrolled the
high country, distributing bales of hay, and digging out sheep trapped in the snow. It was tough,
demanding work. His wife, Ural, a strong woman, often worked alongside him, as did the two boys.
Kaelin had not seen the family for more than two months, and, caught within one of his wandering
moods, had packed some supplies and set off for the cabin. In good weather it was a day's walk
from Ironlatch, but in these conditions it had taken the powerful young highlander more than three
times as long. He had been forced to spend one whole day in a cliff cave, sheltering from a fierce
blizzard.
Exhausted now, Kaelin began to sweat from the effort of climbing the hill. Fear touched him. In
these conditions a man had to move slowly and carefully. At this temperature perspiration would
freeze against the skin beneath a man's clothes, draining all warmth from his flesh.
'I am almost there,' he thought. 'The sweat does not matter.'
The sun was dropping low over the mountains as he approached the last quarter-mile, and he was now
regretting that he had chosen to bring his new long-barrelled musket, and his two Emburley
pistols. Kaelin had planned to do a little hunting with Finbarr and the boys, but now all he
wanted was a chair by a warm hearth, and to be relieved of the weight of his guns and his pack. He
shivered with pleasure at the thought of the heat from Finbarr's fire.
The boys, Feargol and Basson, would be delighted to see him. The youngsters loved his stories -
stories he had first heard from the giant Jaim Grymauch when he was their age; tales of Connavar
the King, and Bane, who had fought in the great arenas of Stone. Basson, the elder at ten, would
sit at Kaelin's feet, his eyes wide, his attention rapt. Feargol, a six-year-old with an unruly
mop of red hair, would interrupt the tales constantly, asking the oddest questions. 'Did Bane wear
a hat?' he asked one day, just as Kaelin was telling the boys the story of a gladiatorial contest
between Bane and a Stone warrior.
'Not while he was fighting before the crowd,' said Kaelin, patiently. 'So Bane drew his sword and
stepped out before the emperor, a powerful man namedтАФ'
'What kind of a hat did he wear when he wasn't fighting?' asked Feargol.
'Will you be quiet?' snapped Basson, a slim young lad, who had inherited his mother's fair skin
and blond hair. 'Who cares if he had a hat?'
'I like hats,' said Feargol.
'He had a woollen hat,' said Kaelin, 'just like yours, with ear protectors. When it was cold he
would let them down and tie them below his chin. In the summer he would lift the ear flaps up and
tie them at the top of the hat.'
'What colour was it?' asked Feargol. 'Was it white like mine?'
'Yes, it was white.'
Feargol was delighted. Scrambling up from the floor he ran back into the bedroom and returned
wearing his white hat. Then he sat quietly as Kaelin finished the story.
The memory lifted Kaelin's mood as he saw the cabin. He pictured the fire and the friendly
reception, the boys running out to greet him. Kaelin paused in his climb. There was no smoke
coming from the stone chimney. This was odd, for there was enough firewood to last the winter. He
and Finbarr had spent weeks hauling and sawing logs, chopping rounds and stacking the fuel by the
north wall.
As he came closer to the cabin he saw that the timbers of the west wall had caved in, and part of
the roof had fallen. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sa.w something red flicker in a nearby


file:///G|/rah/David%20Gemmel/David%20Gemmell%20-%20Rigante%204%20-%20Stormrider%201.0.txt (3 of 189) [1/31/2004 8:15:08 PM]
 file:///G|/rah/David%20Gemmel/David%20Gemmell%20-%20Rigante%204%20-%20Stormrider%201.0.txt