"John Maddox Roberts - Stormlands 02- The Black Shield" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)

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The Black Shield by John Maddox Roberts

ONE
The king came riding from the hills astride the fiery cabo that the awed breeders had
named Earthshaker. The animal's four small, curved horns had been tipped with balls
of gold, not for vanity but because Earthshaker had gored some of the handlers.
Propped before him on his saddle the king held a beautiful, glittering spear. It was
not the long, horseman's spear such as the Amsi favored, but the man-tall warrior
spear of the king's native islands. A full third of its length was graceful, tapering head
with inset steel edges in a body of bronze. Another third was a spirally fluted
butt-spike. A haft of flamewood connected head and spike. It was a famous
weapon, known from the snows of the far north to the jungle kingdoms of the south.
It had become the symbol of his lordship, for it was little
2 John Naddox Roberts

suited to mounted warfare and the warriors of his elite guard seldom let him risk himself in close combat
any more.

Hael had spent the past night by a pool in the low foothills to the north of the town, meditating as was his
frequent custom. His people assumed that he was communing with the spirits or performing magical rites
at such times, but more often he simply wanted to get away from people, to be alone for a while.
Sometimes he felt that this business of being king was a mask he assumed, that, inside, he was still a
herdsman-warrior whose greatest pleasure was in standing solitary guard over the tribe's livestock.

His guard cheered and mounted when he rode into sight. Most of them were Matwa or Amsi, but there
were representatives of a dozen other peoples. The guard was becoming unwieldy, but every time a new
people joined his alliance, he had to take a few young men into his personal bodyguard, lest the
newcomers should feel slighted.

The guard fell in behind him and he set off for the town at a trot. An hour's ride brought them to a low
rise overlooking the town, now swollen to twice its usual size by the semiannual fair. Twice each year, the
fairs of the western and southern merchant trains turned the once-tiny Byalla village of Hard Wind into a
minor metropolis where a dozen languages could be heard on any street.

The king had encouraged the merchants to maintain permanent factors in this town and others within his
domain, guaranteeing the safety of their caravans. His matchless mounted

THE BLACK SHIELDS 3

warriors kept the grasslands free of outlaws as well as foreign enemies. The king had a large residence in
the town, with barracks for his guard. He spent a month or two of each year there. There were other
such residences in his most important villages and towns. They had been Deena's idea/ for the queen
detested living in tents.