"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

She strode after, suddenly younger, swelling up tall and strong, and now she was wearing a green
hunting tunic and a pair of doeskin boots, and her hair was the color of honey, and her eyes like beaten
gold. Rhodry yelped, staggering along backward, afraid to turn his back on her to run. Out of sheer
warriorтАЩs instinct and nothing more he drew his sword. The moment that the bright steel flashed in the
sunlight she howled in rage and disappeared, flickering out like a blown candle.

Rhodry broke into a cold sweat. For a moment he merely stood beside the river and shook; then he
turned and shamelessly ran for the horses. With clumsy shaking hands he saddled his gray, grabbed the
lead rope of the bay gelding, then mounted and rode out at a fast trot. All the long way back to camp he
wished for a good road and a gallop. And yet, when he saw the camp and, in particular, the other men in
the warband, his fear seemed not only shameful but foolish, and he told no one what had happened. In
fact, the more he thought about the incident, the more unreal it seemed, until finally he convinced himself
that heтАЩd fallen asleep in the warm sun and dreamt the whole thing.

Two days later, on the last afternoon of the alardan, Oldana died. Rhodry was walking among the tents
when he heard Enabrilia start keening. The high-pitched shriek cut through the noise of the camp like a
knife and sobbed on and on. One at a time, other voices joked in, wailing and gasping. Rhodry turned
and ran for OldanaтАЩs tent, shoved his way through the sobbing mob at the door, and ducked inside. Her
hair down and disheveled, Enabrilia was clawing at her own face with her nails while two of her women
friends grabbed at her hands to make her stop. Oldana lay on a pile of blankets, her arms thrown wide,
her unseeing eyes still open. She had been ill so long that her face seemed, at first, no colder, no paler
than before, but her mouth hung slack, her lips flaccid. Huddled in the curve of the tent wall little Faren
stood staring and silent, watching his elder brother mourn without truly understanding a thing. Rhodry
gathered the pair up and led them out of the tent. In a time of mourning, boys belonged with the men
while the women cared for the dead.

Outside, other women were assembling at the tent while the men hurried through the camp, extinguishing
every fire as they went. They gathered near the horse herd, where OldanaтАЩs brother, Wylenteriel, met
Rhodry and took his nephews with a murmur of thanks for the banadarтАЩs second in command. Rhodry
found Calonderiel swearing under his breath with every foul oath he knew.

тАЬShe was so wretchedly young to die! I donтАЩt understand the gods sometimes, I really donтАЩt!тАЭ

тАЬWho can?тАЭ Rhodry said with a shrug. тАЬIтАЩm heartsick, too, but IтАЩm worried about her sons more.
WhereтАЩs their father?тАЭ

тАЬUp north somewhere with his herds, last anyone saw him. The boys will fare better with their uncle
anyway, if you ask my opinion and not that anyone did.тАЭ The banadar looked briefly sour. тАЬWith luck
weтАЩll run into their father down at the winter camps. The alardan will break up tonight, and weтАЩll be
heading east.тАЭ

тАЬEast?тАЭ

тАЬTo the death ground. ThatтАЩs right, youтАЩve never been there before, have you? WeтАЩre close enough to
take her there for the burning, in this cool weather and all.тАЭ

Rhodry felt oddly troubled. The sacred death ground lay right on the Eldidd border, not more than a