"SM Stirling - Change 02 - Scourge of God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my friends who are also first readers:
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To Steve Brady, for assistance with dialects and British background, and also with bugs, birds and plants.
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Thanks also to Kier Salmon, for once again helping with the beautiful complexities of the Old Religion, and with local details for Oregon. And for the use of BD!
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To Diana L. Paxson, for help and advice, for insights into a certain Person, and for writing the beautiful Westria books, among many others. If you liked the Change novels, youТll probably enjoy the hell out of the Westria booksЧI certainly did, and they were one of the inspirations for this series.
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To Dale Price, for help with Catholic organization, theology and praxis.
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To Brenda Sutton, for multitudinous advice.
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To Matt Miller, for answering questions about the lovely Silver Creek area of Idaho, which he has helped to preserve.
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To Melinda Snodgrass, Daniel Abraham (loved that suggestion about cues!), Emily Mah, Terry England, George R. R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams, Jan Stirling and Ian Tregellis of Critical Mass, for constant help and advice as the book was under construction.
Special thanks to Heather Alexander, bard and balladeer, for permission to use the lyrics from her beautiful songs which can beЧand should be!Чordered atwww.heatherlands.com . Run, do not walk, to do so.
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Special thanks to Kate West, for her kind words and permission to use her chants.
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Special thanks alsoЧI have an infinite fund of themЧto William Pint and Felicia Dale, for permission to use their music, which can be found atwww.pintndale.com and should be, for anyone with an ear and with salt water in their veins.
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And to Three Weird SistersЧGwen Knighton, Mary Crowell, Brenda Sutton, and Teresa PowellЧwhose alternately funny and beautiful music can be found atwww.threeweirdsisters.com .
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And to Talbot Mundy, with apologies for making him a CUT saint and the villains Theosophists, and with thanks for inspirationЧI think heТd be amused at the homage to Ringding Gelong Lama Tsiang Samdup.
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All mistakes, infelicities and errors are of course my own.




CHAPTER ONE
High was the Mackenzie hearth
Dun Juniper, Gods-favored hall
And goodly its treasures
Song and feast, harp and verse
Rang often there and well
But far and wild were the wanderings
That Artos must endure
Hard-handed hero, well companionedЧ
From:The Song of Bear and Raven
Attributed to Fiorbhinn Mackenzie, 1st century CY
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SNAKE RIVER PLAIN, BOISE/NEW DESERET BORDER
JULY 21, CY23/2021 AD
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УWeТd be a lot farther east if weТd gone the southern route,Ф Edain Aylward Mackenzie grumbled quietly. УIf weТre going to this Nantucket place for the Sword, IТd prefer we justgo .Ф
The first three fingers of his right hand moved lightly on the waxed linen string of his yew longbow as he knelt behind the boulder of coarse dark gray volcanic rock, and he spoke without turning his eyes. A bodkin-pointed shaft was ready on the rest that cut through the riser-grip, and the stocky thick-armed body was ready to bend and loose the weapon with a snapping flick.