"Robert Don Hughes - Pelman 01 - The Prophet Of Lamath" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Robert Don)

The Prophet of La-Math
(Pelman the Prophet, Book 01)
by Robert Don Hughes

Chapter One
THERE WAS a saying in the land as old as the dust that stood ten inches deep in the back of his cavern, as old as the
diamonds that he loved to toss from mouth to mouth. "Two heads are better than one," Vicia-Heinox would hear a
passerby say, and he would nod with both of his in sage agreement, then eat the traveler whole. Vicia-Heinox was a
two-headed dragon, the only one there had ever been-the only one which has ever been.

To say that Vicia-Heinox was the most powerful living creature anyone could remember is to understate the case. A
one-headed dragon is a national emergency. A two-headed dragon, sitting astride the only truly usable pass on the
north-south trade route, is a world problem. Vicia-Heinox was an environmental feature. He not only altered cultures,
he was a factor in producing them. Three ancient nations feuded and skirmished around him, for he sat on the only
frontier the three realms held in common. He had been actively involved in the history of each, and all held him in awe.

One could say that the dragon helped preserve the peace, for he refused to let armies march through his pass. On the
other hand, one could say his presence constantly argued for war, for he strangled economic interchange between the
giant powers. The only merchants he allowed to pass were very rich merchants. They had to be very rich, in order to
pay his incredibly high toll in goods and slaves and still make a profit. They were also very wise merchants, who knew
how to show honor and respect to the dragon who insured their financial well-being. No wisecracking merchant ever
made his way through Dragonsgate. A misplaced remark about two heads, dropped thoughtlessly amid the bargaining
with the beast, had been the bane of many a family fortune. Over a period of centuries this process of unnatural
selection resulted in a very small company of sour, mean-tempered, closemouthed merchants controlling all of the
inter-empire traffic.

This provided the primary cause of friction between the nations. Everyone knew that it was the merchants who
controlled their economy. And because the merchants kept to themselves, each family holding a number of private
estates scattered through each one of the kingdoms, the people of every land viewed the merchant families as
foreigners. Because they hated merchants, the public hated foreigners. Because they hated foreigners, they warred on
their neighbors.

But Vicia-Heinox straddled Dragonsgate, and armies couldn't march. The three lands waged no hot, quick wars on
sunny days, moving in colorful array across great remembered battlefields. Instead, the three realms wrestled in one
slow, dark war, a night war, fought in black and white. Skirmishes and raids replaced marches and charges. Generals
were made by intrigue, not excellence. Cruelty was valued over bravery. The greathearted leaders of memory had long
since been replaced by thieves. It was not a good world in which to live.

Except for Vicia-Heinox, who felt it couldn't be better. There were rulers of lands, but he ruled the rulers. The merchants
controlled the countryside, but he controlled the merchants. And he ate well.

Every week a caravan or two would labor up one of the steep approaches to his pass. Some came up the short, sharp
northeastern defile, carrying farm goods, rough textiles, and good sturdy tools from Lamath. Others toiled up the long,
narrow southern route from golden Chaomonous, patron of the arts. Finely crafted luxury items and exotic objects from
foreign lands came with these southerly caravans, for the people of Chaomonous were seafaring men, who prided
themselves on their travels. But it was the western entrance to Dragonsgate that the beast watched most carefully, for
two reasons. Ngandib-Mar was a mountainous empire, and caravans from this region did not have to climb so far to
reach the pass. One very tricky, very quick trading captain had managed to sneak in and past the dragon while he was
napping once, but that had been many years before. Any captain so foolish as to try to repeat the trick Vicia-Heinox
took great pleasure in charbroiling, for it was from the mines of Ngandib-Mar that the dragon obtained his wealth.