"Andre Norton - Yurth Burden" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

followed when the time was ripe. Still no one ordered that this be so. Ra
ther did those obeying such customs recognize within themselves that this
must be done without question.

Twice, she had heard, in the years before her birth, long ago by the reckoni
ng of the clan, the King-Head of the Raski had sent armies to seek out and d
estroy the Yurth. Once those reached the mountains they had fallen into the
net of illusions which the Elders could weave at will.
Men broke out of disciplined companies, wandered lost, until they were subt
ly set back on their path again. Into the mind of the King-Head himself was
inserted a warning. So that when his brave soldiers came straggling back,
foot worn, exhausted, he returned to his city stronghold, and did not plan
a third mountain expedition. Thereafter the Yurth were let strictly alone a
nd the mountain land was theirs.

But among the Raski there were rulers and ruled, and they were, as far as El
ossa had been able to tell, the sorrier for that. Some men and women toiled
all their lives that others might live free and turn their hands to no task.
That this was a part of their otherness was true, and perhaps those who toi
led had little liking for it. Did they hate their masters with some of the s
ame black hatred that they turned toward the Yurth? Was that hate rooted in
a bitter and abiding envy of the freedom and fellowship of the clans? But ho
w could that be, what Raski knew how the clans lived? They lacked the mind-s
peak and could not so rove away from their bodies to survey what lay at a di
stance.

Elossa quickened pace again. To be away from this! She was fanciful. Surely
no tongue of that black ill-wishing she had "seen" with the Upper Sense re
ached after her like the claws of a sargon. Fancies such as that were for c
hildren, not one old enough to be summoned for the Pilgrimage. The sooner,
however, that she was in the foothills, the more at ease she would be.
Thus she walked steadily as the fields about gave way from ordered rows of
grain to pasturage, well grazed by hoose teeth. Those patient animals thems
elves raised their heads as she passed. She gave them silent greeting, whic
h seemed so much to astound them that here and there one shook its head or
snorted. A younger one came trotting to parallel her way, watching her, Elo
ssa felt, wistfully. In its mind she detected a dim memory of running free
with no rein or lead cord to check that racing.

She paused to give it the blessing of food forage and pleasant days. Back to
her came wonder and pleasure in return. Here was one ruled, and yet those w
ho ruled it did not know what manner of life it really was. Elossa wished th
at she might open the gate of all these pastures, let loose those the fences
kept in restraint, that they might have the freedom only one remembered so
dimly.

Yet it was also laid straightly upon the Yurth that they must not attempt to
change in any way the life of the Raski or their servants. To do so meant usi
ng the Yurth gifts and talents in the wrong manner. Only in some crisis, to d
efend their own lives, might the Yurth cast illusions before their attackers.