"Douglas Niles - Forgotten Realms - Viperhand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niles Douglas)

24
THE CITY AT THE HEART OF THE TRUE WORLD
A small deer slipped between two encloaking ferns, silently pressing through
the deep jungles of Far Payit. The creature hesitated a moment, then darted
forward, sensing danger but unable to pinpoint the threat.
Suddenly a huge jaguar landed silently on the ground before it, fixing the
deer with a sharp, penetrating gaze. The smaller creature froze in terror,
staring into those unblinking yellow eyes. The only movement was the trembling
of the deer's thin legs, the quivering of its heaving flanks.
For long moments, the jaguar held the deer spellbound. Then, with a slow,
deliberate blink, the great cat dropped its lids over those bright eyes.
Instantly the deer leaped away, springing through the brush in a desperate
flight. So fast, so terrified was its escape that it failed to notice that the
cat offered no pursuit.
"Well done, Gultec." The speaker, an old man with long white hair and brown,
wrinkled skin, emerged from the brush and spoke to the jaguar.
Or to what had been the jaguar. Now, in the cat's place, stood a tall,
muscular man. Both men were clad in spotted loincloths and otherwise were
naked and unarmed.
"Thank you, Zochimaloc," said the younger man, bowing deeply to his companion.
When Gultec looked up, his handsome face wrinkled slightly in confusion. "But
tell me, Master, why do you bid me hunt thus, with no killing and no food?"
Zochimaloc sighed, sitting lightly on a moss-covered log. As he waited for a
reply, Gultec pondered his own ease with this strange, wizened man. Weeks
earlier, the concept of a "master" would have been one that the Jaguar Knight
could never have accepted. Indeed, death would have been pref-
25
DOUGLAS NILES
erable to his own servitude and devotion. But now the old man who had become
his teacher seemed the most important thing in the world to Gultec, and every
day seemed to bring more evidence of how very little the warrior actually
understood.
"Soon you will be ready to learn more," said the old man finally. "But not
yet."
Gultec accepted the statement with a nod, not questioning his teacher's
wisdom.
"Now let us return to Tulom-Itzi," said Zochimaloc. In a flash, the old man's
form changed as he became a brilliant parrot. With a quick thrust of his
wings, he took to the air, vanishing among the tree trunks and leaving Gultec
to follow on foot.
The Jaguar Warrior pushed his way through the jungle patiently, though he
couldn't help reflecting on the changes in his life that had brought him here.
He remembered his despair when the metal-skinned strangers had destroyed his
army and conquered the PayitтАФhis nation. Then he recalled the freedom of his
flight into the jungle as a wild, hunting jaguar.
His flight had ended with the humiliation of capture by men who served
Zochimaloc; almost immediately his captivity gave way to the discipline of his
teacher's long hours of training.
Never before had Gultec learned so much or asked so many questions. He had
dwelled in the jungle lands all his life, yet Zochimaloc showed him how little