"Wilbur Smith - Egyptian 03 - River God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

Suddenly Tanus lifted his right hand with the fist clenched. As a single man the rowers checked their
stroke and held the blades of their paddles aloft, glinting in the sunlight and dripping water. Then Tanus
thrust the steering-oar hard over, and the men on the port bank stabbed their backstroke deeply, creating
a series of tiny whirlpools in the surface of the green water. The starboard side pulled strongly ahead. The
boat spun so sharply that the deck canted over at an alarming angle. Then both banks pulled together and
she shot forward. The sharp prow, with the blue eyes of Horus emblazoned upon it, brushed aside the
dense stands of papyrus, and she lanced her way out of the flow of the river and into the still waters of
the lagoon beyond.

Lostris broke off the song and shaded her eyes to gaze ahead. 'There they are!' she cried, and pointed
with a graceful little hand. The other boats of Tanus' squadron were cast like a net across the southern
reaches of the lagoon, blocking the main entrance to the great river, cutting off any escape in that
direction.

Naturally, Tanus had chosen for himself the northern station, for he knew that this was where the sport
would be most furious. I wished it was not so. Not that I am a coward, but I have always the safety of
my mistress to consider. She had inveigled herself aboard the Breath of Horus only after much intrigue in
which, as always, she had deeply involved me. When her father learned, as he surely would, of her
presence in the thick of the hunt, it would go badly enough for me, but if he learned also that I was
responsible for allowing her to be in the company of Tanus for a full day, not even my privileged position
would protect me from his wrath. His instructions to me regarding this young man were unequivocal.

However, I seemed to be the only soul aboard the Breath of Horus who was perturbed. The others
were simmering with excitement. Tanus checked the rowers with a peremptory hand-signal, and the boat
glided to a halt and lay rocking gently upon the green waters that were so still that when I glanced
overboard and saw my own reflection look back at me, I was struck, as always, by how well my beauty
had carried over the years. To me it seemed that my face was more lovely than the cerulean blue lotus
blooms that framed it. I had little time to admire it, however, for the crew were all abustle.
 One of Tanus' staff officers ran up his personal standard to the masthead. It was the image of a blue
crocodile, with its great coxcombed tail held erect and its jaws open. Only an officer of the rank of Best
of Ten Thousand was entitled to his own standard. Tanus had achieved such rank, together with the
command of the Blue Crocodile division of Pharaoh's own elite guard, before his twentieth birthday.

Now the standard at the masthead was the signal for the hunt to begin. On the horizon of the lagoon the
rest of the squadron were tiny with distance, but their paddles began to beat rhythmically, rising and
falling like the wings of wild geese in flight, glistening in the sunlight. From their sterns the multiple
wavelets of their wakes were drawn out across the placid waters and lay for a long while on the surface,
as though moulded from solid clay.

Tanus lowered the gong over the stem. It was a long bronze tube. He allowed the end of it to sink
below the surface. When struck with a hammer of the same metal the shrill, reverberating tones would be
transmitted through the water, filling our quarry with consternation. Unhappily for my equanimity, I knew
that this could readily turn to a murderous rage.

Tanus laughed at me. Even in his own excitation he had sensed my qualms. For a rude soldier he had
unusual perception. 'Come up here in the stern-tower, Taita!' he ordered. 'You can beat the gong for us.
It will take your mind off the safety of your own beautiful hide for a while.'

I was hurt by his levity, but relieved by the invitation, for the stern-tower is high above the water. I