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

iness.

One of the Sword Brothers spurred past me, heading
from the rear guard toward the fore. I watched his pas-
sage with outright envy. They were men apart, owing no
kin once they had taken Sword Oath, having no clan ties.
Their skill with sword, bow, and short-spear was so well
known that they carried much authority without ever hav-
ing to touch steel. However, they made no demands upon
the kin, supplying themselves from their own flocks and
herds which the foot-brothers tended.

To be accepted into their number was the dream of
most of the youth of the clans. For most that dream was
never realized, for they remained always the same in
numbers, adding no one except on the death of a brother.

After the passing of the rider my own overlord, Garn,
came at a lesser pace, his two sworn men at his back,
checking upon those of us who rode as a side guard. He
was a man near as dour as this land and the weeping sky
over us, not given much to talking, but with a quick eye
for any failure in service, or possible cause of trouble.
Silence was the best praise a man could hope for from
Garn. I felt my hands tighten on the reins as his hawk
face turned toward where my small company trotted. I

had expected him either to voice some disparaging com-
ment on my deploying of that part of his forces, or to
check upon the rear guard who were ordered by his son
Everad. Instead his horse matched pace with mine, his es-
cort dropping back a little, until he rode stirrup to stirrup
with me.

I did not expect any comments from him about the
land about us, the discouraging weather, or the past. I
merely waited, recalling hurriedly all I might have done
lately that was not to his liking. His head turned slowly as
his gaze swept from one ridge bordering the road to the
other -- though I did not think he was trying to see the
rear riders of the Household clan of Rarast which
preceded us.

"There is good forage." I was astonished at his words,
though I knew that Lord Garn was one to judge well the
worth of land and the uses it might be put to. I knew all
those around me, I knew their likes and dislikes, their
faults and virtues, and how we were allied one to the
other. I knew my own part in the kin-clan, the training in
weaponry which I had had, I knew -- everything but why