"Sharon Green - Jalav 1 - Crystals Of Mida" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

given up the glory of death in battle to Attend the Keeper of the Crystal of Mida. Now the Crystal had
been stolen, and her life as well, and what had been done could not be undone.

"Remad," I said quietly, and she turned to look at me.

"I hear, Jalav," she whispered weakly. "How may I serve the war leader?"

"Already have you served truly and well," I said, stroking my life sign. Hers lay upon her slowly rising
breast, a near mate to mine. We shared the sign of the hadat, that fierce, furred, long-toothed, sharp-
clawed messenger of death sent by Mida to smite her enemies, though our symbols of that sign were not
identical. Each warrior must, upon reaching her womanhood, carve her life sign from the wood of the
tree that has been marked as her own at her birth. Should her tree die before she reaches her
womanhood, she is taken to the dwellings of those who follow males, and left to be made a slavewoman
to them, for should a warrior enter battle without her life sign upon her breast, her soul would surely be
lost.

"Remad," I said, "I would have you look upon one who was captured a short while ago. Are you able to
know if he is one of those who took the Crystal of Mida?"

"I shall know," she whispered. "Long did I gaze upon the faces of each of them as they fouled our
warriors with their touch," she rasped. "I shall know."

"Bring him," I ordered, and two warriors ran to do my bidding. The fury I felt at what had been done in
the Tower of the Crystal was a terrible thing, and my sword would drink well before my vengeance was
fulfilled. I thirsted for blood to pay for blood.

I turned at the sound of struggle and beheld the captive, he who had been taken just as word had reached
us of the theft. Six of my warriors surrounded him with spears at his throat, and still he attempted to
resist them. Lofty, indeed, was his height, a full head greater even than mine, and his wide, muscled
body was encased in the garb of one from the cities, a brown cloth which covered all but his arms from
neck to mid-thigh, as though his body would be shown to his shame. He wore neither clan colors nor life
sign, for those of the cities have no souls to be lost, and also his feet were encased in leather, to keep him
from the touch of the sweet ground of Mida. His red-gold hair was of a decent length, bound by leather
at the back of his neck as though he were prepared for battle. His arms were bound, each wrist to the
opposite elbow behind his back, leather stretched between his ankles, leather pulled tight across the
cords of his throat, yet still did he struggle. Should he be proven innocent of the crime in the Tower, it
would be wise to detain him, so that my warriors might be allowed to take his seed for themselves. Not
many of the males who travel our land are found fit to mate with a warrior.

The captive fought to free himself as he was drawn forward by the warriors. He shouted to the air the

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 JALAV 1: The Crystals of Mida

oaths of city males, mistaking my warriors for their pale sisters of the cities, swearing to do upon them
things which would never be borne by them. Forward did they draw him with difficulty, till his eyes fell
upon my dead warriors, and then his struggles ceased as though he had been touched by the hand of
Mida.

"The deed was not mine!" said he harshly to Remad. "To take the lives of mere girls in such a