"The Eyes Of A God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marco John)

'My lord?"
'Come on, man, tell me. What is marriage?"
'It'sЕ" Gorlon searched for an answer. "It's a union, my lord."
'What kind of union?" snapped Akeela.
Gorlon was lost. "My lord?"
'It's a legal union! It's two people committing themselves to each other before the Court of L№ria. Before me. And it isn't something that can be broken just because a man feels an urge or a woman agrees to spread her legs."
'My lord, I neverЕ"
'Quiet." Akeela turned to D'marak. "What is the husband asking for? Twenty sovereigns?"
'Yes," said D'marak. "Quite a bit, actually."
Was it a lot, Akeela wondered? How much was a marriage worth? And how much should this scraper pay to repair one?
Only the wind replied, lashing his face. He suddenly felt alone, and the murkiness unnerved him. Again he thought of his arrogant captain, and his patience snapped.
'God damn it, I'm a lieutenant! Why send me out in this swill?" Then he laughed bitterly, adding, "Because the captain is a bloody bastard, that's why."
He could turn back, he supposed, but then he would have failed in this simple task, and that would give Lukien pleasure. So he squinted through the rain, surveying the routes carefully. Both directions looked equally eerie; not at all hospitable, especially since they had the princess with them. And Lukien had told him to find the safest route. But Trager wasn't even sure where they were. Somewhere lost in Reec, south of the Novo Valley.
'Left then," he decided. It was more southerly and would probably lead them closer to Koth. He urged his mount forward again, his mind polluted with thoughts of Lukien.
The captain had been very quiet lately. Since leaving Hes, he had hardly spoken at all. He simply rode at the point of the company, occasionally giving orders to the men and checking on Princess Cassandra's carriage, which rolled along in the middle of the company, comfortably housing the young woman and the maid Jancis. Despite the wind and rain, Trager smiled as he thought about Cassandra. She was comely, more than Akeela deserved, and the image in his mind made him hunger. He didn't wonder why Lukien was always looking at herЧthe answer was obvious. The lust in Lukien's eyes was plain enough for anyone who cared to see it. And Trager didn't blame his captain for coveting Cassandra, either. He was a man, with a man's urges. To Trager, that was forgivable. What wasn't forgivableЧwhat haunted Trager day and night and had for yearsЧwas the arrogance with which the captain carried himself. Apparently he thought nothing of craving the king's property, because he was like a brother to the stupid Akeela and the king was blind to everything. When it came to Lukien, Akeela was like a little boy, hero-worshipping an undeserving bag of pus.
'It's time to puncture that bag, I say," muttered Trager.
He would do it with a lance. When the spring tourney came,
,'ieutenant Will Trager shook cold rain from his face, cursing his bad luck. The storms that had surged through the valley the past few days had turned the road to muck and swallowed the sun with clouds, and though he suspected it was very near noon, he could barely see the path past the blinding rain. He drew back the reins of his horse, bringing the beast to a stop. A canopy of sable hung overhead, windswept and miserable. Trager's uniform clung limply to his body, soaked through with rain. Behind him, the muddy road snaked through the forest, back toward his company and the warm fires of camp. Ahead of him lay a fork in the road, both branches leading to darkness. The thick forest weaved a mesh of tangled limbs, warning him away.
Trager shook his head, muttering to himself and hating Lukien for sending him scouting. The captain and the others were back at camp, enjoying food and the cover of pavilions, while he was out in the storm, enduring the cold and filth. For three days they had traveled, heading west toward Koth, and for three days it had rained, slowing them to a crawl. Worse, the swelling river Kryss had flooded the Novo Valley, forcing them to detour down unfamiliar roads. It had taken a lot of scouting to get this far, and Trager was sick of the duty. He was tired of the rain and the endless mud, but mostly he was tired of Lukien and his orders. Beads of rain fell into his eyes as he considered the forking road.
'Bloody hell, this figures. Which way now?"
armys, how they looked like people and preyed on human flesh, nd how they could hypnotize a man with their preternatural eyes. Now, caught in their watery nest, he believed every word. His horse finally caught the scent of the monsters and began to snort wildly. Trager squeezed his thighs against its flanks to quiet it Only one thought occurred to himЧescape.
'Now!"
Drawing his sword in one hand, he wrenched his mount around with the other, bringing the stallion snorting to its hinds. The garmy in the road sprang forward; its hideous face filling Trager's vision. He swung his sword wide, catching the creature's neck and slicing the head from its sinewy body. A shriek filled the air, then silence. Trager spun his horse around. The garmys in the trees dropped from the branches. Trager heard them sprinting through the mud. But his horse was already bolting away. He turned to see the creatures scurrying over their fallen brother, slowly dropping back. They were monstrously uglyЧlike monkeys in the skin of snakes.
'Hurry!" Trager urged his mount, praying his horse wouldn't stumble and break a leg.
he would be ready for it. Finally, he would tarnish the vaunted knight of bronze.
Trager rode on, heartened by the image of Lukien dangling from the tip of his lance. Overhead the tangle of branches thickened, blocking out the worst of the rain. He would ride another mile before turning back, he decided. Ahead of him, the forest road widened slightly. Trager congratulated himself for choosing the right direction. Reecian roads were good, at least as good as those in L№ria, but the rainy season turned them all into slop. This year, the rains had come earlier than expected. A slick of mud blanketed the road, making travel hard for his horse. The stallion's hooves disappeared into the earth with a sucking sound. Trager listened to the noise, wondering if he should stop. Then he heard something else. A hissing sound, very faint. His eyes seized on something dead ahead. Abruptly he jerked back the reins.
For a moment he saw nothing, then caught a glimpse of something green slipping through the mud. The darkness of the storm and trees shaded the road. He held his breath, afraid to make the smallest sound, realizing that a garmy was ahead, one of the rarest and most deadly creatures that called the forest home.
The creature lay very still. Trager mimicked its silence, not daring to move. Thankfully, his horse had yet to see the beast. Carefully he scanned the surrounding trees, looking for others, then saw two more pairs of yellow eyes glowing in the thickets. His heart thundering, Trager considered his options. He had to flee, that was plain enough, but garmys could be quick, and might strike if he tried to run. He pretended to ignore the creatures, knowing they would come as close as possible before striking. Predictably, the one in the road began to slither forward.
It moved like a cat through the mud, its reptilian body barely visible, its spiked tail rising like a dorsal fin above the water. Beneath the filth, two webbed hands pulled it forward. Its head was smooth, covered with scales, and its lidless eyes shone a sickly gold. Each swish of its tail brought its wide mouth closer, while its brothers in the trees watched in silence, ready to spring.
'Mother of Fate," Trager whispered. He knew the tales of the wo hours later, Trager approached the camp. His ride back had been uneventful, and he had neither seen nor heard anything more of the garmys. He was proud of himself for having slain one of the beasts, and was looking forward to boasting about it when he returned. The fear that had seized him earlier was gone now, and all he could think about was Lukien, and how the captain would look when he told him about the garmys.
But not far from the camp, Trager remembered how much he hated Lukien, and how unendurable his life had become in the Bronze Knight's shadow. He remembered also how much Akeela loved Lukien, and how Lukien was a hero in L№ria, something that Trager would never be. And then he remembered how Lukien always took the point when they traveled, careful to protect the king's new bride.
When at last he entered the camp, he reported directly to Lukien. He told the captain how he'd scouted the forward area, and that there was no trouble on the roads save for the muck that had plagued them for days.
He mentioned nothing of the garmys.
'You should be pleased," said Trager. "We're making good progress. And look at that sky. Not a cloud."
Lukien nodded. "Yes. Finally." He looked over at his lieutenant. Trager wore a peculiar grin. He asked, "What are you smiling at?"
'The day, Captain," replied Trager. "That's all. And I'm glad to be getting closer to home."
'Mmm, yes," agreed Lukien. "But the roads are still bad. We won't cross the border till tomorrow at the earliest. There's a fork up ahead, you say?"
Trager looked around, seemingly puzzled. "It was dark in the rain," he mused. "I can't quite recall. But it's around here somewhere."
A few minutes later, they found it. Lukien considered the fork, not liking the looks of either route. Both were canopied with trees and laden with mud. He brought up a hand, calling the company to a halt. Trager relayed the order and watched as the horsemen and carriage came to a stop.
'All right, we'll rest here for a spell," said Lukien. He spied the two lanes, unsettled by them both. "Trager, which way did you take yesterday?"
The lieutenant didn't reply. Lukien turned and saw that he had already dismounted and was leading his horse away.
'Trager," he called. "Which way?"
'Captain?" the lieutenant asked.
'Which way did you go yesterday?"
Trager thought for a moment, then said "Left."
Still atop his horse, Lukien studied the leftward route. It was dim and foreboding, like its twin, and something told him to be cautious. He said, "I'm going to ride ahead and scout it out. Tend to the men and see that they water their horses. Then look after the princess, make sure she's all right."
'Good idea, Captain," said Trager, then quickly turned and walked away.
J_he next morning, Lukien gave the order to break camp and led the company once again toward Koth. It was a clear morning, the first any of them had seen in days, and Lukien took the sunlight as a good omen. Now they might finally start making some real progress. As was his custom, he rode at the head of the company, with Trager and the other Royal Chargers behind him. Cassandra's royal carriage rumbled along in the center. So far, it had been an uncomfortable ride for all of them, and Cassandra's once lovely carriage was now spattered with mud and windblown leaves. The roads were still soaked with rain, which made traveling slow, but as the sun rose higher the day began to warm and the puddles slowly dried, revealing the road beneath. Lukien kept a relaxed pace, careful not to tax their horses. If they were lucky, they would reach the L№rian border in a day or so. From there it was at least another full day's ride to Koth.
To Lukien, it seemed like a lifetime ago that he had been with Cassandra at the picnic. Since then, he had seen precious little of her. She had been shunning him, and he supposed it was embarrassment that kept her silent. He had tried several times to speak to her while in Hes, but always she had feigned tiredness or some pressing business, and she never seemed to require his bodyguard services anymore, the way she had during their first weeks together. Now she was lost to him, and the loss disturbed Lukien. Soon enough, he would turn her over to Akeela. They would marry, and he would be forever cursed to see her with another man. Irritated, Lukien gave an angry sigh. The sound of it summoned an unwanted visitor.
'Captain?" asked Trager. The lieutenant rode up alongside him. "Is something wrong?"