"Raymond Kaminski - The Amazons of Somelon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kaminski Raymond)

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The Amazons of Somelon

by

Raymond Kaminski




First published 1981




Chapter 1

Caravan


Tolling like a bell lost in the ruins of some pagan cathedral, the wind
drifted in off the desert. It had raged unopposed over the dunes, freezing the
life out of salamanders and vipers. Now it wriggled through rock studded
hills, searching for more challenging, warmblooded prey in the moonlight. At
the mouth of the canyon, the wind grazed a line of Teutite wagons creaking
blindly over the rutted road, and there it curled, ready to play out its
deadly mischief.

When they heard the wind ringing toward them, the Teutite drivers turned up
their fleece-lined collars, tightened the knots in their scarfs, and fortified
themselves with long, burning swigs from their wine jars. The reins went slack
as the drivers twisted in their seats to tie down the hide flaps that led
inside the wagons, where women and children fought to hold a weak grip on
sleep amid the lurching, bobbing cargo lining the wooden floors. Left
unattended in their yokes, the oxen trudged on, for they knew the road. And
they closed their eyes, for they also knew the wind.

Gushing down between the canyon's steep walls, the wind struck them, oxen and
men, square in the face, freezing tears into crystals on their lashes. From
the head to the tail of the caravan, the wind tore at the covers of the wagons
till the stretched skins vibrated as loudly as drums. It buffeted the carts,
lifting wheels off the ground and letting them smash back down, then the wind
disappeared into the darkness. There it swirled, gathering its forces like so
many floating veils, and circled back.

The wind danced, surged, screamed. It was like an invisible swarm of bees