"John Norman - Counter Earth 05 - Assassin of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

Assassin of GorAssassin of Gor
By : John Norman
Chronicles of Counter-Earth Volume 5
Kuurus
Kuurus, of the Caste of Assassins, crouched on the crest of the small hill,
leaning with both hands on the shaft of his spear, looking down into the shallow
valley, waiting. He would not yet be welcome.
In the distance he could see the white walls, and some of the towers of the city
of Ko-ro-ba, which was being rebuilt. It is an old word in Gorean, Ko-ro-ba,
meaning a village market, though few considered its archaic meaning. Kuurus
looked on the city. It had once been destroyed by Priest-Kings, but now it was
being rebuilt. Kuurus was not much interested in such matters. His was the Caste
of Assassins. He had been called to this place. In the early part of the eighth
Gorean hour the distant white walls took the sun and blazed like light in the
green hills. The Towers of the Morning, thought Kuurus, the Towers of the
Morning.
The Assassin shifted a bit and turned his attention again to the valley, when
the men below were almost ready.
The logs had been prepared and carefully placed. There were hundreds of them,
trimmed and squared, mostly of Ka-la-na wood, from the sweet-smelling wine trees
of Gor. They crossed one another in the intricate traditional patterns, spaces
between to permit the rush of air, forming a carefully structured, tiered,
truncated pyramid.
Kuurus observed, curious, as the last log was placed by two men in the red of
Warriors.
Then free women, veiled and in Robes of Concealment, each carrying a jar or
canister, approached the structure. Even from where Kuurus waited he could smell
the perfumed oils, the unguents and spices, which the women, climbing and moving
about the pyramid slowly, as though on stairs, sprinkled about or poured over
the wood.
Beyond the wood, toward the city, Kuurus could see the procession. He was
surprised for, judging from the colors of the garments of those who marched, it
contained men of many castes, perhaps all castes of the city, only that he did
not see among them the white of the Caste of Initiates. That puzzled Kuurus, for
normally men of the Initiates are prominent in such events.
These men of Ko-ro-ba, he knew, when their city had been destroyed by the
Priest-Kings, had been scattered to the ends of Gor but, when permitted by the
Priest-Kings, they had returned to their city to rebuild it, each bearing a
stone to add to its walls. It was said, in the time of troubles, that the Home
Stone had not been lost, and it had not. And even Kuurus, of the Caste of
Assassins, knew that a city cannot die while its Home Stone survives. Kuurus,
who would think little of men on the whole, yet could not despise such men as
these, these of Ko-ro-ba.
The procession did not chant, nor sing, for this was not a time for such things,
nor did it carry boughs of Ka-la-na, nor were the sounds of the sista or tambor
heard in the sunlight that morning. At such a time as this Goreans do not sing
nor speak. They are silent, for at such a time words mean nothing, and would
demean or insult; in such a time there can be for Goreans only silence, memory
and fire.
The procession was led by four Warriors, who supported on their shoulders a