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




CROSSROADS
OF
TWILIGHT


PROLOGUE




Glimmers of the Pattern




R odel Ituralde hated waiting, though he well knew it was the
largest part of being a soldier. Waiting for the next battle,
for the enemy to move, to make a mistake. He watched the
winter forest and was as still as the trees. The sun stood halfway
to its peak, and gave no warmth. His breath misted white in front
of his face, frosting his neatly trimmed mustache and the black
fox fur lining his hood. He was glad that his helmet hung at his
pommel. His breastplate held the cold and radiated it through his
coat and all the layers of wool, silk and linen beneath. Even Dart's
saddle felt cold, as though the white gelding were made of
frozen milk. The helmet would have addled his brain.
Winter had come late to Arad Doman, very late, but with a
vengeance. From summer heat that lingered unnaturally into fall,
to winter's heart in less than a month. The leaves that had survived
the long summer's drought had been frozen before they could
change color, and now they glistened like strange, ice-covered
emeralds in the morning sun. The horses of the twenty-odd arms-
men around him occasionally stamped a hoof in the knee-deep
snow. It had been a long ride this far, and they had farther to go
whether this day turned out good or ill. Dark clouds roiled the sky

16 C R O S S R O A D S OF T W I L I G H T


to northward. He did not need his weather-wise there to tell him
the temperature would plummet before nightfall. They had to be
under shelter by then.
"Not as rough as winter before last, is it, my Lord?" Jaalam said
quietly. The tall young officer had a way of reading Ituralde's
mind, and his voice was pitched for the others to hear. "Even so, I
suppose some men would be dreaming of mulled wine about now.
Not this lot, of course. Remarkably abstemious. They all drink tea,