"Sharon Green - The Woman Who Rides Like a Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

should we not serve you as we did these others, Woman Who Rides Like a Man?"
Alanna rubbed her head tiredly. She felt too tired and dazed for the dance of
manners that passed for conversation among the Bazhir. Dealing with these
desert
warriors was bound to be tricky; luckily she had learned their ways from an
expert.
Faithful climbed onto her shoulder, setting up a murmur among the watching
tribesmen. Alanna glared up at her cat, knowing he knew he was making the
Bazhir
nervous. They don't see black cats with purple eyes often, she thought.
"You're
getting too big to sit up there," she whispered to her pet.
Never mind that, Faithful told her. His meowing had always made as much sense
to
Alanna as human speech. Talk to them now.
Suddenly she felt more confident and alert. "I hope you will deal with us
fairly, Halef Seif of the Bloody Hawk," she replied. "We took nothing. We
harmed
nothing, my friend and I. We are simply riding south. Would you harm a
warrior
of the King?"
Her gamble failed as Halef Seif shrugged. "We know no king."
Alanna could hear Coram shifting nervously in his saddle. It might have been
easier to deal with men who acknowledged King Roald of Tortall. Renegades
would
not take kindly to the presence of Roald's most unusual young knight.
"You know of no king, but others of the Bazhir do. If they knew you held a
Knight of the Realm and her companion, they might counsel you to take care,"
Alanna warned.
This produced some amusement among the riders. Only their leader remained
grim.
"Is your king so weak he uses women for warriors? We cannot think well of such
a
king. We cannot think well of a woman so immodest that she puts on the
clothes
of a man and rides with her face bare."
Alanna pointed to the bodies of the hillmen she and Coram had slain. "They
did
not think I was a worthy opponent either. Can you say that my friend and I
would
be dead at the hillmen's swords if you had not come? They took my sword from
me." She swallowed hard and said recklessly, "What is a sword? I have my axe,
and my dagger, and my spear. I have Coram Smythesson to watch my back, as I
watch his."
"Big words from a small woman," Halef Seif remarked. There was no way for
Alanna
to read his expression.
One of the riders, a Bazhir head and shoulders taller than most of his
companions, brought his horse forward, peering at Alanna's face intently.
Suddenly he nodded with satisfaction. "She is the one!" He exclaimed. "Halef,