"John Maddox Roberts - Stormlands 03 - The Poisoned Lands" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)

the world's greatest treasure, the secret for which their queen would reward
them beyond any man's wildest dreams. They had found the steel mine of King
Hael.
The heat in the crater was stifling, so that the warriors were hard put to
keep their masks of imperturbability from slipping. They did not want to
appear weak before the workmen, but this place tested the hardiest. In the
heat they had discarded their customary skin clothing and rode in knee-length
cloth breeches. Head scarves and light mantles protected them from the fierce
sun. If they were lightly clothed, they were heavily armed. Each man had a
great bow and a quiver bristling with arrows. Each bore a long sword of steel,
and their lance points were likewise of steel. The tips of their arrows and
javelins were of cheaper bronze. Their shields were of differing designs, as
were the men themselves, for they were not all of a single race. They were
united in their mounted way of life, despising inferior people who walked on
the earth like animals.
"Three more days," said a long-haired youth to his companion. "Three more days
and we can leave this furnace. I cannot tell you how sick I am of soot and
smoke and the reek of these sweaty slaves."
"Not to mention the sun and the rationed water," said the other, who was
slightly the younger of the two. They shared a close resemblance, both tall
young men with copper-colored hair and pale blue eyes. Their high cheekbones
distinguished them from the others, and each had an easy, natural grace that
set them apart.
"Where will you go when the season's operation breaks up?" asked the elder,
kneeing his mount up the concave
THE POISONED LANDS 5
side of the crater, hoping to catch some breeze up on the rim.
"Back to the grasslands and the hills, where else?" said the younger.
"Not I. I am going along with the labor escort. I want to see some of the
southern towns before I return home."
"But Father has told us . . ."
"Are we boys that we must obey his every wish?" said the elder. "We are both
free warriors and we need no father's permission to go where we will."
"He is more than our father, as if I need to remind you. He is also our king."
They paused atop the low ridge, out of the smoke and clamor.
"And as such he has never forbidden free warriors to go where they will in
peacetime, as long as they don't take military service with a foreign king
without his permission. I just want to travel a little and see some new
sights. To tell you the truth, I am almost as weary of grass and livestock as
I am of this desert."
The other looked doubtful. "I don't know. He was reluctant just to have us
both away from home on this mission. It worries him that he might lose both of
us."
His brother smiled wryly. ' 'Kairn, he cherishes the hope that one of us will
someday succeed him, but you and I know that is not to be. The council of
chiefs will pick someone else. Father is the great spirit-man, the unifier of
plain and hill. What are we? Just warriors like any others. We lack the
spirit-force that made him like a god to the tribes. I am not prepared to
spend my life near home, indulging his fond hopes for my future."
Kairn was silent. He lacked his elder brother's easy self-assertion and the