"Recluce - 07 - The Chaos Balance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

trimmed back to less than a cubit above the water, even with the smooth
graystone blocks that formed the side of the west towpath of the
waterway. The barge glided northward from Fyrad along the Great Canal,
past trimmed reeds and ancient stone canal walls.
аа A kay or so to the east of the canal, the river wound a more sinuous
course, and one more dangerous, with its population of stun lizards and
sharp-toothed crocodators. The river was used by the peasants who had no
coins to pay the tolls of the canal-and those who wished to avoid the
keen-eyed Imperial inspectors.
аа "Gee ... ah ..."
аа Themphi fingered his smooth-shaven chin, looking straight down and
catching sight of his own angel-shaded reflection in the silver-gray
waters.
аа The white-trimmed blue barge continued to glide through the
mirror-smooth waters of the Great Canal, another work that Themphi knew
could not be replicated by the Empire he served. North toward the
Accursed Forest, that expanse of... who knew what that had been bounded
by white stone walls and wards since the founding of Cyador-and perhaps
before.
аа He shivered as he thought of the teetering balance between order and
chaos that awaited him.
а
а
XIII
а
THE MARE'S HOOFS squushed as she carried Nylan down the muddy road toward
the brickworks-and the millpond. Beside him, Ayrlyn rode a chestnut mare.
As usual, her jacket was fastened-all but the very top-and Nylan's was
only loosely closed.
аа Less than a hundred cubits to their right-west-the rock rose in a
sheer cliff nearly a kay up to the high meadow plateau that held
Westwind. The two had started their ride after breakfast, and it was
approaching mid-morning, although they had not pushed their mounts.
Riding in the mud took longer, especially crossing the occasional
snowdrifts, some of which remained nearly waist high, and the route was
anything but direct. The direct route would have been over the cliff.
Instead, they had to ride along the road from the tower up the ridge and
down the ridge. From the fork below the ridge, they headed south and then
west along the circular trail that eventually led downhill through the
true upper forests of the Westhorns to border the cliff face. Nylan
supposed the road eventually led somewhere in Lornth, but it wasn't the
main road, and neither he nor Ayrlyn had taken it much beyond the
brickworks. Neither had had much time for idle travel, and on Ayrlyn's
trading runs the previous year, she'd followed the best roads, which were
certainly slow enough.
аа Nylan's eyes flitted from the road to the trees, and his ears and
order senses scanned the forest beyond the road, though he could sense
nothing except rodents, tree rats, and some birds.
аа Piles of dirty snow lay under the spreading branches of the
evergreens, where the trees had shed their winter coats that had not yet