"Gray, Julia - Guardian 04 - The Red Glacier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

Far off the starboard bow, the sea was burning.
'I bet you've never seen anything like that before,' Kahl remarked. 'However far you've travelled.'
Terrel stared at the fire, wondering how such a thing could be possible. As he watched, another burst of flame erupted, sending a shower of glittering red sparks into the air and burnishing the surrounding waves as though they were made of bronze. Above them, a pall of black smoke and grey steam trailed away on the wind.
'There'll be an island there come the autumn,' Kahl added knowledgeably.
'An island?'
'The fire conies from the heart of Nydus,' the sailor explained. 'And as it rises up from the seabed, it brings rock with it. Those sparks you saw just now, some of them were boulders bigger than your head, and they're all made of stone so hot it turns to liquid and glows like a blacksmith's furnace.'
Terrel turned to look at his companion, trying to judge whether he was being serious or not. Kahl was one of the few crewmen who had been willing to talk to him and Terrel had tried to establish some degree of friendship with him. He had told the sailor a little of his own travels, and hoped for information in return. He was heading towards another alien land, and seeing the ocean burst
into flame had emphasized just how little he knew about this region of Nydus.
'But when it hits the water and cools, the rock becomes solid again,' Kahl went on, apparently quite in earnest. 'And it gradually builds up until there's a new island for us to sail around.'
'I'm glad you said sail around,' Terrel commented. 'I wouldn't want to get too close to anything like that.'
Even from a distance it was an awe-inspiring sight. From close to, it would have been terrifying.
'Nor me,' the seaman said. 'The captain wouldn't like it much either, and he's kept us in clear water until now. Of course, one of them could break out right in front of our bows. There wouldn't be much we could do about that.'
Terrel found this idea extremely alarming, but saw that Kahl was grinning now.
'Don't worry,' the sailor said, relenting. 'We've done this run a few times now and no one's suffered so much as a singed beard.'
'Let's hope it stays that way,' Terrel replied, feeling the uneven stubble that now covered his own chin.
'Mind you, it's not just the new islands that make navigation tricky,' Kahl added. 'The fires under the water make their own currents too. Sometimes it's difficult to tell what's going on, especially now the tides aren't reliable any more.'
Terrel was already aware of that anomaly Ч and the reason for it. For several years now the Dark Moon had been behaving erratically Ч in defiance of all the precise astronomical laws laid down by the seers of his homeland Ч and recently, it seemed that the changes in its speed and size had begun to affect the orbits of the other three moons. This meant that predicting the rise and fall of tides had become increasingly complex.
'Of course,' Kahl went on, 'once the fire-islands are in
place, they can actually help us, give us reference points when we're out of sight of land Ч provided you can recognize them from one month to the next.'
'You mean they keep changing?' Terrel guessed.
'Sometimes. See those islands there?' He pointed further ahead, to where three black mounds rose from the sea. 'They weren't even there two years ago, and each time we come past they've got bigger. They still smoke sometimes too, so we steer well clear.'
Terrel squinted into the distance, studying the irregular cone-shaped rocks, and tried to imagine them growing out of the ocean.
'These are dangerous waters,' he commented.
Kahlshrugged.
'Any sea can be dangerous. This one more than most, maybe.'
'Then why do you cross it?'
'The usual reasons. Gold and adventure.' He grinned. 'But mostly the gold.'
'They have gold on Myvatan?'
'Loads of it. We wouldn't bother trading with them otherwise. They've got precious little else we're interested in. I'm more interested in why you want to go there.'
Terrel had several reasons, but none that would mean much to a practical man like Kahl.
'I don't know, really. I've been travelling so long, it seemed like one of the few places I hadn't been to yet.' This contained at least an element of truth. 'And I've heard it's different from anywhere else.'
'That's one way of putting it,' the seaman remarked. 'But there must be some purpose to your travelling.'
'Not really.'
Although Kahl was clearly not convinced, he chose not to press the point.
'Well, a person with your talents is going to find a welcome in most places,' he observed.
Terrel's healing abilities were something he accepted now, though he never took them for granted. He had paid for his passage on the Skua by helping the ship's first officer make a speedy and complete recovery from a nasty fever. In return, Ostan, the captain, had been only too willing to take him aboard Ч one extra passenger cost him very little Ч and, since then, most of the crew had benefited in some way from Terrel's skill.
'So have you decided which side you'll work for?' Kahl asked.
'Side?' Terrel queried. 'In the war.'
The healer had heard several rumours about Myvatan, including one claiming that the island had been in the throes of civil war for many years. However, few people had been either able or willing to talk about the place at all, so he'd remained in ignorance for the most part. His decision to go there had been made in a rush. Sailings were rare, especially this early in the year, and Ostan's offer had been dependent on his being able to leave immediately.
'Neither,' Terrel answered eventually.
Kahl laughed.
'You'd better make up your mind one way or the other before we dock,' he advised. 'Say the wrong thing in the wrong quarter and you're dead.'
Terrel looked at him in dismay.
'I've no interest in the war,' he said.
'Then what are you going to Myvatan for?' the sailor asked. 'Apart from gold, the war is all they have.'
Now I know cats are mad, a familiar voice complained. This one hates water as much as I do, but it's chosen to live on a ship!
Alyssa! Terrel exclaimed, sliding out of his hammock to kneel in front of her.
He had been aware of the cat's presence earlier in the voyage. The crew called it Dranga, which meant rat-trap, and it usually prowled the lower decks in search of prey. The animal's face was heavily scarred, one of its ears was torn and its left foreleg was slightly lame, but its ginger coat was glossy, testament to its success as a hunter. Until now it had paid Terrel little attention, and he'd been surprised when it had stalked up to his sleeping place that evening. But not even in his wildest imaginings had he thought that Alyssa's spirit might have taken over the cat's body. Not only did she dislike the devious nature of feline minds Ч of all the other animals she had tried, horses were the only creatures she found as difficult Ч but, as her opening remark had implied, she disliked large bodies of water even more. In the past, the mere fact that Terrel had crossed an ocean had prevented her from joining him for some time, even after he was back on dry land. And when he was actually on water, there had been no chance of proper contact. And yet here she was, inhabiting a cat, in the middle of a vast and dangerous sea.
I didn 't expect to see you so soon. Even though Terrel's delight at her arrival was as great as ever, he was perturbed by the fact that she had forced herself to overcome her fears. What was so important that she could not afford to wait a few days?
I was never meantЧ Alyssa began, then broke off as the ship shuddered under the impact of an unusually large wave. The cat staggered, its mismatched ears twitching, and its fur stood on end. Hissing, it dug its claws into the deck Ч and Terrel saw the 'ring' looped around one of its forepaws. The ring was made of twine interwoven with one of his own hairs, and although at first Alyssa had