"Norton, Andre - No night without stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andre Norton)

liked to have claimed those, as he claimed the office of smith with the Mob, but
custom had supported Sander to that extent.
[01]
The major hammers and chisels had been buried with his father, Dullan, of
course. A man's main tools of trade were filled with his own powers and must so
be laid away in the earth when he no longer could use them. But there were some
smaller things that a son could rightfully claim, and no one could deny him
those. However, Sander needed more, much more, if he were to realize his
dream--to find the place wherein those masses of congealed metal, which the
traders brought to the Mobs, were concealed, to learn the secret of the alloys
which now baffled the smiths.
Resolutely he started on, dodging a charred wall that had fallen outward,
closing his mind to everything but his search, holding his nose against the
stink. Rhin continued to whine and growl. Sander knew well that his companion
wanted none of this place of death and followed him under protest. Yet because
there was the brotherhood between them, Rhin would continue.
Rhin's people and those of the Mob were entwined in mutual service. That
companionship began during the Dark Time. Legends Sander had heard recited by
the Rememberers said that Rhin's people had once been much smaller, yet always
clever and quick to adapt to change. Koyots they were called in the old tongue.
There had been many animals, and more men than one could count, who had perished
when the Earth danced and the Dark Time had begun. Mountains of fire had burst
through the skin of the world, belching flame, smoke, and molten rock. The sea
had rolled inward with waves near as high as those same mountains, hammering the
land into nothingness in some places, in others deserting the beds over which it
had lain for untold ages. Cold followed and great choking clouds of evil air
that had killed.
Here and there a handful of men or animals survived. But when the skies cleared
once again, there were changes. Some animals grew larger generation by
generation, just as distant species of men were rumored to be now twice the size
of Sander's own people. That information came from Traders' tales, however, and
it was well known that Traders like to spread such stories to keep other men
away from any rich finds. They would invent all manner of monsters to be faced
were a man to try to track them back to their own places.
Sander stopped, picked up a spear, gruesomely stained, and prodded with that
into the ashes of a small building. He swiftly uncovered what could only be an
anvil--a good one fashioned from iron, but far too heavy to be transported.
Finding that, a sure sign he had found the smithy, he scratched with more vigor.
His delving uncovered a fine stone hammerhead, the haft near burned away, but
the best part remaining, then another of a lesser weight. That was all that
remained, though there were some traces of metal--copper he was sure--puddled from
the heat.
He raised his hand and recited the secret smith words. If the owner, who might


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lie farther back under the debris at the rear, was still spirit-tied, as men who
died quickly and violently sometimes were, he would know by those words that one