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

But who was to sow the seed for this desperately needed crop of children?

The neuters could advise, teach, do a thousand and one jobs. The younger ones could fight if necessary.
But not the wisest of them could beget a single child. Tharn needed men. The dialogue went like this:

Well, there were the Pethcine survivors, but-

Why "but"? They are men, aren't they?

Yes, but-

Are there any other men left?
Perhaps elsewhere on the plateau, in-

Can you promise that we shall find them before all our women are too old to bear children? If we
cannot, then there will be nothing but death for our whole people.

But the Pethcines are barbarians!

They are men.

They are savage warriors. We have just fought a terrible war to keep them out of Tharn. Now you ask
that they be let in!

That was the old Tharn. It is gone, and nothing can bring it back. We must consider only what is needed
to build a new Tharn. What is most needed now is men. The Pethcines are men.

And so the argument ran, on and on and on. Eventually common sense carried the day. The Pethcines
might be as horrible as their worst enemies said they were. Their only assets might be their penises and
their sperm. But they did have those, and that brought an end to the discussion.

There turned out to be fewer problems than even the optimists had anticipated. Several hundred stunned
Pethcine stragglers had been rounded up after the battle. A good many of them were still alive. Offered
the opportunity to stay that way in return for stud services, most of them accepted.

Several hundred more Pethcines were rounded up in raids down into the Gorge. This produced more
breeding stock. It also left the surviving Pethcines aware that Tharn still stood, however shakily, and
could strike at her enemies.

The grand total of Pethcine males gathered together was close to five hundred. By and large they settled
in and settled down peacefully. Their own people were broken and without a future. In Tharn they could
become the ancestors of a new, strong, proud people, and have great pleasure doing it. The women of
Tharn were far more beautiful than their own. It also helped that the average woman of Tharn was a head
taller and every bit as strong as the average Pethcine male. Wife-beaters got short shrift, rapists got even
shorter shrift, and those offenders who survived seldom repeated their offenses.

Ensuring the supply of babies was the first problem that had to be solved, but far from the last. Food
(other than mani), shelter, domestic animals, weapons-all had to be found or made. Arrangements had to
be made for bearing and raising the hoped-for swarms of babies. The list went on and on.