"Jordan, Robert - Wheel of Time 10 - crossroads of twilight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jordan Robert)

the block unless the dice fell the right way. "I offer a truce. I pledge
in the King's name not to move against you in any way so long as
the Seanchan remain a threat to Arad Doman, if you will all pledge
the same and fight beside me against them until they are beaten
back."
A stunned silence answered him. Bull-necked Rajabi appeared
poleaxed. Wakeda chewed his lip like a startled girl.
Then Shimron muttered, "Can they be beaten back, Lord Itu-
ralde? I faced their . . . their chained Acs Sedai on Almoth Plain, as
did you." Boots scraped the floor as men shifted their feet, and faces
darkened in bleak anger. No man liked to think he was helpless
before an enemy, but enough had been there in the early days, with
Ituralde and Shimron, for all to know what this enemy was like.
"They can be defeated, Lord Shimron," Ituralde replied, "even

G L I M M E R S OF T H E P A T T E R N 25


with their . . . little surprises." A strange thing to call the earth
erupting under your feet, and scouts that rode what looked like
Shadowspawn, but he had to sound assured as well as look it.
Besides, when you knew what the enemy could do, you adapted.
That had been one core of warfare long before the Seanchan
appeared. Darkness cut the Seanchan advantages, and so did
storms, and a weather-wise could always tell you when a storm was
coming. "A wise man stops chewing when he reaches bone," he
continued, "but so far, the Seanchan have had their meat sliced
thin before they reached for it. I intend to give them a tough shank
to gnaw. More, I have a plan to make them snap so fast they'll
break their teeth on bone before they have a mouthful of meat.
Now. I have pledged. Will you?"
It was hard not to hold his breath. Each man seemed to be
looking inward. He could all but see them mulling it over. The
Wolf had a plan. The Seanchan had chained Acs Sedai and flying
beasts and the Light alone knew what else. But the Wolf had a
plan. The Seanchan. The Wolf.
"If any man can defeat them," Shimron said finally, "you can,
Lord Ituralde. I will so pledge."
"I do so pledge!" Rajabi shouted. "We'll chase them back across
the ocean where they came from!" He had a bull's temperament as
well as its neck.
Surprisingly, Wakeda thundered his agreement with equal
enthusiasm, and then a storm of voices broke, calling that they
would match the King's pledge, that they would smash the Sean-
chan, even some that they would follow the Wolf into the Pit of
Doom. All very gratifying, but not all Ituralde had come for.
"If you ask us to fight for Arad Doman," one voice shouted
above the rest, "then ask us!" The men who had been calling their
pledges fell to angry mutters and half-heard curses.
Hiding his pleasure behind a bland expression, Ituralde turned