"James C. Glass - Shanji" - читать интересную книгу автора (Glass James C)

high valleys, their bleating a constant din from the holding pen near theger . They dined well on grainy
gruel to fatten them after another long, hard winter, but Kati often wondered if they sensed their fate.

Today she was confined to a pile of hides to play with her little brother while the women worked, their
faces glistening over a wood-fired stove, talk animated with laughter. Kati sensed excitement, a pleasure
projected in amber eyes normally deep brown during the drudgery of ordinary days. There were quiet
whispers, and sudden giggles as the women shared a secret story. She didn't mind being ignored, at least
for the moment, for it was fun to play horses with Baber. They were separated in age by little more than a
year, and Da had made four horses for each of them, stuffed with wool and painted by hand with the
colorful trappings of their ancestors. Warrior dolls clung to the flanks of the horses, faceless heads with
black pigtails, images of bow and arrow quivers painted on their backs. Baber growled, thrusting
forward two horses as they sat crossed-legged, knees touching. "Kati die," he snarled.
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Kati met his charge with a single warrior on a black stallion. "Shanji!" she cried, twisting her horse to bite
at the attackers, and all three riders toppled from their mounts at once.

"I win," she said. "Two to one."

Baber scowled. "You push too hard. You're bigger."

"I am an old, experienced warrior," said Kati. The women at the stove turned and smiled at her. One of
them said, "Toregene, your little warrior-empress already does battle with the men. Surely she's old
enough to begin riding. When will Temujin commence her lessons?"

Kati's mother shushed the woman, a finger on her lips. "Listen," she said, and the women bent close in
whispers. Kati strained to hear them, and then the women giggled, snuck a look at her, amber eyes
twinkling.

Kati wondered about their sudden pleasure from a secret whispered by Ma, but now Baber was
charging again, this time with three horses, and she braced her remounted warrior for the attack.



The morning was crisp with cold when Kati was awakened by Ma. A single oil lamp flickered on the
earthen floor of theger , casting orange hues on tapestries and rugs covering the walls: scenes of warriors
in battle dress, charging towards a great city of towers and pagodas spewing smoke and flame. In one, a
tall woman in emerald green stood on a hill, arm outstretched, directing the charging warriors.

"Time for your first festival, Kati. Put on your leather tunic against the cold. We will ride two hours
before it is light."

Kati rubbed her eyes. In the flickering light, the warrior figures seemed to move. Baber was already up
and dressed, looking like a ball with legs in his layers of cotton, wool and leather. He stood by the
doorway, watching the commotion outside: hooves stomping, horses snorting, the bleating of goats and
sheep. Kati had slept naked in her blanket roll on a hide coverlet over the thick, straw mattress. She put
on woolen undergarments, shirt and pants of puffy wool, then the double thickness pants and tunic to