"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 32 - Pirates of Gohar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

He'd started training his imagination with cover stories while doing intelligence work, and gone on
explaining his origins to people in more than twenty different Dimensions. This was simply the newest
occasion for practicing an old skill.
"Well, we know that Gohar was founded by people who came across a great desert from a land
between two river valleys тАж" Blade went on speaking rapidly and borrowing details wholesale from the
history of the Phoenicians and their colony Carthage, the Romans, the classical Greeks, and even the
Byzantine Empire. By the time Captain Nemyet had his armor off, he was smiling. By the time Blade
reached a twisted description of the Punic Wars, the captain was laughing so hard he had to grip the
railing to keep from falling.
"Blade, Blade, Blade," he gasped, tears running down his cheeks. "You English may know everything
even the gods do about war. But when it comes to knowing where you came from, and how your fathers
livedтАФ" He broke off again, in more laughter.
Finally Nemyet wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his sweat-darkened shirt and called for wine. "Blade,
you've more to learn than I can tell you, I think. I'm a sailor and a trader, not much for sitting with books
all day. Back in the City, you'll find lots more of those. But I can tell you enough so you'll know just how
much you don't know. Fair enough?"
Blade put out his hand and Nemyet took it. "Very fair. If I can, I'd also like to talk with the captain of
the galley, and with the pirate chief here."
The captain frowned. "Don't know about Degyat. He's likely to be busy enough with his ship and
men, until we reach the City. I'll put in a word for him seeing you afterward, though. As for him"тАФa
thumb jerk at the pirate chiefтАФ"what can a man have to say to one of them?"
Blade decided to turn the matter into a joke. "Probably not much. But you've said we English don't
know much about your time. There are other people in my time beside the English. Who knows? Maybe
the Bloodskins were fathers to one of them."
For a moment Blade thought his joke had backfired. Nemyet stiffened and his face twisted up as if
he'd smelled something foul. Then his eyes widened as he understood Blade, and he laughed.
"The Bloodskins the fathers of true men? Blade, you English will believe damned near anything! For
the love of HemiGohar, stay away from the street vendors in the City. They'll sell you theCrystalBridge ,
or even the Emperor's palace!" He turned away, chuckling to himself and still muttering, "Men coming
from the Bloodskins! The Bloodskins!"
Blade looked toward the pirate chief, hoping to see some reaction. Either the pirate was really
unconscious again, or he was determined not to give his captors the satisfaction of seeing him react to
their insults.


It took the rest of the day to put the convoy in order. There were live pirates to be chained below
and dead ones to be thrown overboard. There were dead sailors to be prepared for burial and wounded
ones to be tended. There was cut rigging to be set up again, bloodstained planks to be scrubbed down
with sand and sea water, cargo to be checked for damage. There was plenty of work for everybody,
Blade included. After that everyone was too tired and hungry to talk, so after a meal of salt fish and
porridge, Blade rolled himself up in a blanket on the floor of Nemyet's cabin and fell asleep.
The next morning, Captain Nemyet began Blade's history lesson.
Compared with the confusion in some Dimensions, Blade found this world almost simple. Gohar, the
City, was the capital of an empire of the same name, with most of its territory at the northern end of what
was called theFirstSea . At the southern end theFirstSea opened into the Ocean. Near the straits into the
Ocean was the city ofMythor , founded as a colony by Gohar several centuries ago.
North of Gohar lay mountains, from which three rivers flowed into the Sea near the City. To the east
of the Sea lay a land of forested hills, and to the west broad plains. Beyond the straits to the Ocean the
coast stretched away to the southeast. The Goharans had explored as far as the mouth of an enormous
river.