"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 25 - Torian Pearls." - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

The light was almost gone now, but the sky was clearing. The drends trotted forward, staying in the
trampled-down trail but instinctively avoiding the ruts left by the wagon wheels. Off to the left Blade saw
the loom of the forest that lay between the plain and the sea. The trail seemed to be running almost
parallel to the edge of the forest. No doubt the rich animal life of the forest offered the Kargoi excellent
hunting.

By Blade's rough reckoning, it was two hours after dark when they turned off the trail and stopped.
Blade saw they were surrounded by grass heavily grazed in spots but not trampled into the ground. The
drends promptly lowered their heads to the standing grass and began munching busily. The warriors
dismounted, took nuts and strips of salt meat from their pouches, and began to eat. They seemed to have
forgotten Blade's existence.

Eventually Paor finished his meal, drank some water from his bottle, and came over to Blade. In the
darkness his face was unreadable, but his tone was sympathetic.

"It is unbreakable law that a stranger can neither eat nor drink with warriors of the Kargoi until at least
five of the baudzi, the War Guides, have called him worthy. I call you worthy and will go on calling you
worthy, but I am alone. Four more baudzi must be found before I can give you food or drink without
being cast down among the tent carriers and the dung gatherers."

Blade nodded silently. He could not help wondering where else he could eat and drink among the
Kargoi, if not with the warriors. If the Kargoi were migrating, they and their chiefs might be scattered far
and wide across a plain extending for many days' march. Blade didn't particularly want to fast until five
chiefs could be tracked down and assembled in one place to judge his worthiness.

Something of this must have shown in his face. Paor smiled. "It will not be so hard to find four baudzi or
perhaps even more. All six clans of the Red People are together. We will be up with them once more
before it grows light."

"I understand," said Blade. "Do not worry. You ask of me no more than a warrior should be prepared to
face, if he is worthy of the name." He did not say that in a boastful tone, but as quietly and politely as if he
was discussing the weather. Blade's eyes met Paor's and held them for a moment. Paor smiled and
turned away. In a few minutes they were on the move again.

They rode on through the empty, silent darkness for the rest of the night. One more time they swung off
the trail to let the drends graze. The warriors dismounted, but neither ate nor drank.

An hour after that the sky began to turn gray. Blade watched the eastern horizon, to see if sunrise in this
Dimension would match the sunset. He saw that the forest no longer marched parallel with them to the
east. There were scattered groves and isolated trees, but much of the land was open. Once he saw what
could only be the ruins of a small castle, with a stone keep rising blackened and grim against the lightening
sky. Half a dozen cattle were grazing in the shelter of a half-tumbled wall. Once they must have been part
of the castle's herds. Now they were wild things that galloped clumsily off in all directions as Blade and
the Kargoi rode past.

The light to the east grew and began to flare. Once more Blade saw the sky lit up with a dozen different
colors and a dozen different shades of each color, a display so overpoweringly beautiful that it was
almost terrifying to watch as it grew steadily. It grew until it was possible to imagine that the colors would
spread all across the sky, then pour down on the world and swallow it entirely.