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

himself comfortable, he took a nap of his own.

The Last Streaks of sunlight were fading in the west when Alanna woke from her nap. Coram was still
asleep, snoring lightly, and Faithful had vanished. Yawning and stretching, she stepped outside to find
the village oddly still, as if it had been deserted. She would have gone to explore when IshakтАФwho was
crouched beside the doorway of her tentтАФcaught at her pant leg. Covering his lips with a warning finger,
he led her back into the tent.
"It is the Moment of the Voice," he explained when they were inside. Coram was smoothing his sleep-
ruffled hair. "All adults in the tribe must be present, but I was told to attend you." He looked up as voices
sounded outside. "It is over, and soon they will call you. I will take you to them.
"Aren't ye afraid we'll corrupt ye?" Coram asked kindly.
The boy shook his head. "Halef Seif says only the man who wishes to be corrupted will fall into evil
ways. Halef Seif is wise in the ways of men."
"Wiser than your shaman?" Alanna asked.
"Akhnan Ibn Nazzir is an old desert hen," the boy said scornfully. "His magic hurts more than it helps."
He looked eagerly at Alanna. "Ibn Nazzir says you are a sorceress from the North. Will you teach me
your sorcery? Look! Already I know a little!" Reaching out, he concentrated on the ball of reddish fire
growing at his fingertips.


file:///G|/rah/Tamora%20Pierce%20-%20The%20woman%20who%20rides%20like%20a%20man.htm (6 of 88) [2/17/2004 11:41:49 AM]
 THE WOMAN WHO RIDES LIKE A MAN - Tamora Pierce

Alanna knocked his hand away, breaking Ishak's concentration. "I know nothing of magic," she said
harshly. "And I want to know nothing of magic. The Gift only leads to pain and death."
Kara peered in the doorway and bowed. "Ishak, help our guests to get ready," she commanded. She
swallowed hard, looking at Alanna. "Will you need help, Woman Who Rides Like a Man?"
Alanna smiled. "Thank you, Kara, I can manage for myself."
The girl bowed again. "Ishak will bring you to the central fire when you are ready," she said before
letting the tent flap fall.
Coram was already breaking open one of Alanna's saddlebags, bringing out her mail shirt and leggings.
Ishak gasped with admiration, touching the gold-washed armor with reverent fingers. Alanna had been
given the mail by her friends on her eighteenth birthday. Although she had plain steel mail to wear, this
was specially made for her and particularly light. She fastened the amethyst-trimmed belt at her waist,
removing the sheaths for sword and dagger. It would not be polite to go armed, and it still hurt to look at
Lightning. She hooked gauntlets decorated with her lioness rampant design into her belt and nodded to
Coram. "I'll wait for you two outside," she said casually. "I need to think."
She was actually responding to Faithful's soft hiss just outside the tent. She went to stand beside her pet,
scanning the rapidly falling darkness. "What do you want?" she whispered. "We have these people toтАФ"
Shadows moved against the night, and she froze. Akhnan Ibn Nazzir was leading a horse into the
darkness. "Now, what do you suppose he's up to?" Alanna asked Faithful. "D'you think he means trouble
for us?"
Yes, the cat replied. He was asking the young ones who came into your tent what you had of value. I don't
think he asked because he means well.
Alanna sighed and followed Ishak and Coram to the campfire. Wasn't life difficult enough without
earning the enmity of a Bazhir shaman?
She was given the place on Halef Seif s right, with Coram beside her and Faithful settling down in front
of her crossed legs. As the men of the tribe settled into the great circle formed by the firelight, Alanna
took a closer look at Halef Seif. With his burnoose off his head, the headman looked to be in his late
thirties. He was hook-nosed and lean; sharp lines were drawn from his nostrils to the corners of his thin