"Julian May - Trillium 2 - Blood Trillium" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

frozen crags. Geysers spout there, warming the air and soil so that trees and other vegetation may
grow, and our cave-homes are simple but comfortable. Humans from the coastal setdements and the
Flame-Girt Isles visit us only rarely. We also have litde contact with other tribes of the
Mountain Folk, but we know that we have kin living in the highlands in many parts of the world,
and like them we cherish the far-flying voor, and associate with these great birds, and ride them.
(I realize now that the Lady Magira and those servants of yours who took me in must belong to an
exalted branch of my race that is privileged to serve you, White Lady. And now I begin to
understand why my poor departed voor Nunusio was so determined that I should bring my dire news to
you ... But forgive my digression! I must get on ┬╗iun the tale itself.)
1 earned my living as a trapper of the black fedoks and
j Iden worrams that live only in the highest mountains,
r.d betimes I also guided human seekers of precious
etals into the remote ice-free enclaves where the great
i canoes mitigate the terrible cold.
Over two years ago, during the autumn Dry Time,
ree humans came to our village. They were not prospec-
rs or traders, but said they were scholars from die south,
m Raktum. They had been sent forth by Queen Regent
mondri, they said, in search of a certain rare herb that
- uld cure their boy-king Ledavardis of the malignant
131ooa ~U**iltiwm
languor afflicting him. It was a plant alleged to grow only in the Kimilon, the remote Land of
Fire and Ice that is a temperate island surrounded by glaciers, lying amidst rocks newly cooled
after being belched forth from the belly of the world.
The First of our village, old Zozi Twistback, told the strangers that the Kimilon lay over nine
hundred leagues west, entirely encompassed by the icecap. It is inaccessible by land, and only
those great birds that we Folk call voor and the humans call lammergeiers can reach the place. The
journey is all but impossible because of the monstrous storms that lash the Sempiternal Icecap. No
other Mountain Folk save the Dorok have ever dared to venture to the Kimilon on voorback, and we


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ourselves have avoided the place for nearly two hundreds.
The three strangers promised an enormous reward to the Dorok guide who would take them to the
Kimilon; but none would go. Not only was the expedition deemed too perilous, but also there was an
ominous mien about the trio of humans, a smell of dark magic, that made us loath to trust them.
One was dressed all in black, another in purple, and the third wore garments of vivid yellow.
The three then demanded that we sell voors to them so they could fly to the Kimilon themselves! ,
Our First restrained her outrage and explained that f the great birds are free beings, not
property, and carry j us only out of friendship. She also reminded the ' strangers
very courteously that the voor's talons and sharp-toothed beak make it a formidable creature to
those who are not its friends. At this the trio renewed their offers of rich rewards for any Dorok
guide who would accompany them. But no one would listen, and the humans finally mounted their
fronials and seemed to quit the village.
Now, it is well known among the Dorok that I am the best guide of all, and the strangers no doubt
found this out. One day when I returned from my traplines I found my home-cave deserted. My wife
and two young daughters had disappeared, and none of the-Folk could say what had
become of them. I was mad with grief that night, and near drunk to the point of insensibility on