"Andre Norton - WW - Horn Crown" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

However, there was much clear land waiting for the plow,
hillsides rich in tall growing grass to feed our sheep, our
cattle, the horses which carried our packs and pulled
heavily loaded wains.

Each lord-kin moved in company, possessions well
stacked, and the old and the very young riding either on
wagons or on the most docile of our mounts, while swords-
men and liegemen of each clan kept on alert to wall
them in.
We moved at a slow pace. Sheep and cattle cannot be
overdriven. Also, I think, the strangeness of this land
weighed upon us, perhaps because, as we went, we sighted
certain pillars or structures here and there and, too, the
sun did not make a welcome warmth or light for us.

My Lord was Garn and our household was not equal to
most in either wealth of gear or strength of liegemen. Our
small flock of sheep were easily numbered and we had
only a single bull and five cows to watch. Relics of the old
life we had brought with us filled only three wagons, and
some of the younger women rode, many with a child be-
fore and another behind, holding to their girdles.

I was lord-kin, though not heir, being a late-born son
of Garn's father's brother. Still I carried kin-shield and
there were four crossbow men who rode at my com-
mand -- a very small company to be sure. I was young
enough to be seriously concerned with my responsibilities,
and now, as I rode with my men strung out behind me at
intervals, I kept to the right flank of the clan, searching
among the hills for sight of anything that might move.

We had debated -- or rather the Lords had, when they
had come through the Gate -- the advisability of this route.
Only the Sword Brothers had affirmed that it led straight
through a deserted land and there were none of the other
people's traces near it.

It was, however, a true road -- running straight, the
blocks of its making showing now and again through the
overgrowth of grass and plants. Our wagons jolted along
it with better going than we might have found had we
taken to open country.

The rain was not all that veiled this new-old land from
us. There were patches of mist which hung about the
crowns of some of the hills on either side. In places, that
mist was not the expected gray-white but had a bluish
gleam, or was darker, which gave one a feeling of uneas-