"Silistra - 02 - The Golden Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris Janet E)

them.
УDo not be a fool. There are none upon Silistra who do not know that name. The
halls of Arlet ran with blood upon your account. He knew, before you told him.
He made no sign, because he was not surprised. The haste with which he took your
comнmitment proves it.Ф His voice was wry. The threxТs footfalls were muddled
upon lush grass. Chayin was already dismounted, stripping the carved and tooled
Parset saddle from the steaming dappleТs back. He slipped the headstall, with
its bloody double bits, from the threxТs mouth, hobbled its front feet, and
turned away to seat himself beнneath a tyla palm. I thought it a wonder the
aniнmal was sound, if such negligence was the cahndorТs practice. The threx was
badly overheated, steaming.
Hael lowered me to the ground, to the luxuriant grass that grew in the jer.
Chayin, from where he sat under the tyla, watched me. The dark was fast
receding, the sky greening in the east, the stars fading away. The night noises
were gone, the moon absent from above our heads. I heard the jingle, snort, and
blow that was the rest of the Nemarsi jiasks straggling into the jer. Hael
rubbed his threx down and turned him loose. He dragged his carved saddle with
its webcloth rolls and voluminous saddlepacks to Chayin. Color and tone came
alнmost perceptibly to the jer, silhouette became substance, as the sunТs first
rays burst over the Sabembes.
When there were nine more threx loose in the jer, the jiasks went about raising
apprei. From their saddles they took the web-cloth rolls, from their bags
arm-length tubes of green stra metal. These tubes they fit together into long
stachions and set them deep into the earth. Over the pyraнmid frameworks they
fastened the web-cloth panels. By the time the sun showed its full disk, three
appreis, each resplendent with those psychotropic designs favored by the
Parsets, Stood beneath the tyla palms.
Into the largest of the three went Chayin, his saddle thrown over his shoulder,
the tooled leather packs almost dragging to the ground. I still stood where Hael
had left me, my hands bound behind me, my feet upon the moist, cushiony grass.
I heard a rustle, a crackling, and Hael slid down a tylaТs trunk, a cluster of
fruit stuck in his sword belt. Two of the jiasks were busy with a fire, anнother
two with a haunch of meat. Gear was strewn everywhere. The jer rumbled with
their mutterнings as they unstoppered bladders and passed them back and forth.
The Day-Keeper motioned me, and I followed him meekly into the largest apprei.
The apprei was a clutter. A Parset keeps his treasures around him, wherever he
may be. Chayin squatted in a corner, pulling still more from the bottomless
saddlepacks. I saw a full set of threx shoes, and all that was needed to set
them. СI saw a small brazier, piles of clothing, boxes, and rolled mats. I saw
wraps of meat, plump full bladders. Over the grass the cahndor had spread
thick-piled mats; from the stanchion in the appreiТs middle he had hung his
harness and sword belt, coils of braided leather, and a lit oil lamp.
УSit, little crell,Ф Hael said to me, and knelt down himself, to unpack his own
gear.
I sat upon my heels, conscious of my bonds, of the rope upon my belly. It was
cool in the apprei.
The mat under me was all red and gold, rich, warm. I let my eyes follow the
dancing, patterns. I sank within them, searching.
In Chayin I saw a beast in a blood rage, a dorkat wounded. I deep-read him, and
what was there made me shiver. He was law unto himself, but he knew no law.