"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 19 - Looters of Tharn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

it was obvious that surviving twenty-five years of hard living had sharpened his wits considerably. He
wondered what it had done for the others who had survived. Then he thought of his son, his son who
ruled in Tharn, and for a moment he could not think of the others.

His son. His son, King in Tharn. The words kept repeating themselves in his mind, over and over, going
around and around like the spinning wheels of a car stuck in the mud.

With a great effort he dragged his mind back to reality and looked at Krimon. Suddenly he realized that
he also was ferociously hungry. It had been a long day for him, too.

"I think that is an excellent idea, Krimon. I will get us both food and water." Blade rose and went over to
the storage compartments.

Chapter 10
 The emergency rations in the storage compartments were obviously intended for people with raging
appetites, robust digestions, and no taste buds at all. For the moment Blade didn't mind. But he couldn't
say that he looked forward to the possibility of having to eat this food for several days or weeks.
Obviously, neither did Krimon.

However, Blade's mind was not that much on the food. As they ate, Krimon told of what had happened
in Tharn over the past twenty-five years. It was a fascinating and occasionally terrifying tale.

"There were sadly few of Tharn left alive when the smoke of Urcit cleared away," said the neuter. "But
more than half the people lived; as did more of the Maidukes and bearer maidens than one could have
hoped for. But the Lordsmen were all dead-by your plan, I think?"

Blade nodded.

"I thought so. There was also a terrible toll among the neuters. Much knowledge died with them. But at
least a few of each level and each skill escaped."

"What about the ceboids?"

"Between the battle and the explosion, all but a handful perished. That handful fled eastward, and we
have not seen them since. That was fortunate, as otherwise they would have bred and become so
numerous that without the magveils we would have sooner or later faced a terrible war with them."

Blade suspected that Krimon was leaving out a few gory details of what had happened to the ceboids,
but did not raise the point. There had never been much love lost between the neuters and the ceboids
they ordered about. Besides, Krimon was probably right. The ceboids had been highly fertile but only
marginally intelligent.

Blade hoped that the ceboids had not been exterminated, but had managed to flee and flourish. But he
also hoped that they had fled a long way and were flourishing somewhere far from Tharn and the people.

Eventually a count of the survivors was made. There were a great many women of the various classes,
more than two thousand in all. Most of them were in or approaching their best child-bearing years.

There was an obvious problem facing Tharn. The people would have to produce as many children as
possible in as short a time as possible, particularly male children.