"Naomi Kritzer - Turning the Storm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kritzer Naomi)

CHAPTER ONE

The doom of the leader is to lead.

тАФThe Journey of G├иsu, chapter 4, verse 10.


"Eliana? Eliana!" Giovanni stared down at me, flushed in the late summer heat. I
squinted up at him and he sat back, looking relieved. "That was one hell of a fall."
I groaned and lay still for a moment. Two months of leading an armyтАФtwo more
successful battles, evenтАФ and I still couldn't stay on my horse and reload a crossbow at
the same time. I pushed myself up with my elbows. "Nothing hurts," I said. That was
blatantly false, but nothing especially hurt. "I must have just had the wind knocked out of
me." I turned to glare at Forza, my horse. She had skidded to a stop shortly after
throwing me, and was staring at me with wary sheepishness from farther down the hill.
"It's getting late, anyway," he said. "Let's just make a quick circuit around the hill and
head in."
"Where'd the bow land?"
"Got it," Giovanni said. I stood up and Giovanni handed it back to me. "Let's go." He
whistled for Stivali, the horse he'd claimed from the Ravenessi stables, and we
remounted, turning to head back to the army encampment.
"Hold on," I said, reining in Forza. "Who the hell is that?"
Giovanni turned to look north and squinted at the figure walking toward us. "I don't
know." He unslung his own crossbow and cocked it. "But whoever it is, he's alone."
The man headed straight toward us. He seemed to be carrying weapons, but they
weren't drawn. I loaded my crossbowтАФeasy enough now that Forza was standing
stillтАФand checked behind us, in case the man was supposed to be a distraction. I saw
nobody, but stayed on my guard. We had an outer ring of sentries, but this man, at least,
had gotten past them unchallenged.
"Hello there!" the man said, saluting us as he approached. "I come in peace, to meet
with your leaders. I assume you are soldiers of the Lupi?"
Giovanni's eyes narrowed and he squinted down the sights of his crossbow. "Maybe."
I decided to let Giovanni go ahead and intimidate the stranger. He wouldn't fire
without cause, and I found the stranger's breezy manner irritating. "What do you want
with the Lupi?" I demanded.
The stranger bowed low, showing off a freshly sunburned neck. "My name is Felice. I
have come from Cuore as the delegate of the reformers."
Giovanni lowered his crossbow just a hair. "Fire falls from the sky," he said
challengingly.
"And the land weeps," Felice said.
Giovanni lowered his bow completely. "I guess you are who you say you are. We'reтАФ"
"тАФpleased to make your acquaintance," I said, cutting Giovanni off. "We'll take you
back to the camp." I swung down from my horse and confiscated Felice's visible
weaponsтАФa decorative sword and an ornately carved crossbow. I was not so impressed
by a two-year-old password that I was going to tell this man that he'd just met both
generali of the Lupi army, alone. For all we knew, he was a spy on a suicide mission to kill
us both. "You can ride double with me."
Felice mounted Forza effortlessly and I climbed up awkwardly behind him. I regretted
not making him ride with Giovanni, but said nothing, not wanting to look foolish. We rode
back toward camp.