"Tamora Pierce - The Song of the Lioness 3 - The Woman Who Ri" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

of the Bloody Hawk, I invite you to share our fire this night."
Alanna eyed the tall Bazhir, wondering, Do I have a choice"? Finally she bowed. "We are honored by
your invitation. Certainly we could not think of refusing."

The tent she and Coram were given to share was large and airy, well-stocked with comfortable pillows
and rugs. Alanna flopped down, thinking of what she had seen of the village itself. A rough count of the
tents indicated the Bloody Hawk encompassed at least twenty families. Some of the bachelors would live
apart from their parents in a single large tent. The shaman, the man wearing the burnoose tied with green
cord, had vanished into the largest tent in the village; from what her teacher Sir Myles had taught her, his
dwelling would double as the tribe's temple.
Her reverie was interrupted by three young members of the tribe. Two wore the face veil all Bazhir
women put on when they began their women's cycles of monthly bleeding. The taller girl balanced a tray
of food and wine. Carefully she placed it on the ground between Coram and Alanna as the other girl and
a tall, handsome boy stared at the guests.
"We have never seen a woman with light eyes," the boy said abruptly. "Did the water that falls from the
sky in the north wash all the color away?"
"Of course it didn't, Ishak," the smaller girl retorted. "How would her eyes be purple, then?"
"Ishak! Kourrem! Hush!" the girl who had carried the tray snapped. She bowed very low to Alanna and
Coram. "Forgive my friends. They forget that they have been made adults of the tribe." She glared at her
friends. "I let you come with me because you promised not to say anything. You broke your word!"
"I didn't swear it by my ancestors," the boy called Ishak said virtuously.
"Will your cat let me pet him?" Kourrem, the smaller girl, asked Alanna. "His eyes are purple, too. He is
very handsome. Is he your brother, who was turned into a cat by great sorcery?"


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 THE WOMAN WHO RIDES LIKE A MAN - Tamora Pierce

Faithful, looking smug over the praise, sauntered over to the visitors, letting them pet and admire him.
Alanna smiled at their guess that she and Faithful were related somehow. Many others had wondered
about the fact that she and the cat had the same eye color.
"No," she replied, pouring wine for Coram and herself. "Faithful is just a cat. My brother is a sorcerer,
but he is still shaped as a humanтАФor he was when I saw him last."
"I am Kara," the tall girl announced. "I am to serve you until your fate is decided by the tribe. And now
we should go," she admitted reluctantly. "We weren't supposed to stay long. Akhnan Ibn Nazzir says you
will corrupt us if we are not careful."
Alanna and Coram exchanged worried glances. "Who is thisтАФ" Coram made a face at his inability to
remember the harsh Bazhir name. "The one who says we'll corrupt ye?"
"Akhnan Ibn Nazzir," Ishak said from the doorway. "The shaman. He says you are demons who have
come to try our faith."
Kourrem crossed her eyes. "Ibn Nazzir is an old stick with a beard like weeds."
Shocked, Kara ushered the three from the tent. Coram shook his head worriedly. "I don't like the smell of
this," he admitted. "D'ye think there's anything we can do?"
Alanna was rolling herself up in an embroidered throw. "I plan to take a nap." She yawned. "Until the
tribe decides what to do with us, we can't do a thing." Within moments she was fast asleep, Faithful
curled up beside her nose.
Coram was working on his third cup of date wine when Halef Seif looked into the tent. "She looks softer
when she sleeps," he commented quietly. "When she awakes, tell her the tribe will decide your fate
before the evening meal, at the campfire. I will send for you."
Coram nodded and finished his wine. Alanna was right; there was little they could do now. Making