"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 04 - Dragonspell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

No, it had seemed best to bring Rhodry to Bardek, wipe his memory clean so that he couldnтАЩt simply
go to one of the law-abiding archons and announce his true identity, then turn him loose, hidden in plain
sight as an ordinary slave, drifting wherever his fate or his luck took him. Sooner or later, Nevyn would
follow. And when he did, the Old One would be waiting for him.
 PART ONE

Bardek Autumn, 1063



Gorddyaradar;gwlybtraeth;
Eglurnwyfre;ehalaethTon.
Gwywcalonrhaghiraeth.

A bright sky, seabirds mewling;
Awidewave,soakingtheshore;
Aheart,witheringfromhiraedd.

LlwyarchtheAncestor




Although most people in Deverry thought of Bardek as one single country like their own, in truth it
was an archipelago, and only the smallest islands were under the rule of a single government. The bigger
ones, like Bardektinna and Surtinna, were divided into a number of city-states. Some of these consisted
of only the city itself and barely enough surrounding farmlands to feed it; others controlled hundreds of
square miles of territory and even other cities, either as colonies or as subject states. Myleton, on
Bardektinna, was one of the biggest city-states at the time of which we speak, ruling the city of Valanth
as well as a good half of the island. It was a beautiful city, then, too, perched high on a cliff overlooking a
narrow harbour. Walking through the gates in the pure white walls was like walking into a forest.

Everywhere there were trees, lining the wide, straight streets and covering them with a shady canopy
of interlaced branches, growing thick around every house and building: palms, both the tall date-bearing
variety and the squat ornamentals, spicy-leaved eucalyptus, purple-flowered jacarandas, and a shrubby
variety, with tiny red flowers like a dusting of colour over the leaves, known only in Bardek and called
ben-ato. Flowering vines twined around the trees and threatened to smother the various wooden and
marble statues scattered in the small public squares or at the intersections of streets. Among the greenery
stood the rectangular longhouses with their curving roofs like the hull of an overturned ship, some
guarded by tall statues of the inhabitantsтАЩ ancestors; others, by pairs of wooden oars, large enough for a
giant.

Sauntering down the streets or crossing from house to house was a constant flow of people, all
dressed in tunics and sandals, men and women alike. The men, however, had brightly coloured designs
painted on one cheek, while the women wore brooch-like oddments tucked into their elaborately curled
and piled hair, but both ornament and paint identified the wearersтАЩ тАШhouseтАЩ or clan. Things were so safe
then that the children could run loose in packs down the streets, playing elaborate games in the public
spaces and private gardens alike without anyone saying a cross word to them or causing them a
momentтАЩs worry.