"Sheri S. Tepper - Dervish Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

it before.
There's a city somewhere ahead,' said Peter, trying
to change the subject. 'I can hear it.'
It wasn't surprising. He had Shifted himself a pair of
ears which stood out like batwings on either side of his
head. Probably hadn't even realized he was doing it. I
turned away to hide the expression on my face - he did
look silly - only to see Queynt touching his tongue to
the crystal the dead man had had around his neck.
Even though Queynt had told us over and over he was
immune, seeing him do that made me shudder. I was
going to find out about that alleged immunity sooner
or later, but so far he hadn't explained it. Now he saw
me shiver and shook his head at me.
'We have to know, girl!'
Well, he was right. We did have to know. Those louts
outside Zog had had crystals hanging around their
necks, too. Reddish ones. Queynt hadn't had a chance
to taste one of those, but then he hadn't needed to. It
was evident what dreams of violence and rapine they
were breeding in the brats. Along with everything else,
they had been chanting a litany to Storm Grower while


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CHAPTER ONE

they tried to kill us. We'd been hunting Storm Grower
for some seasons now, and hearing the name in this
context made the hunt seem even more ominous than
we'd already decided it was.
Queynt nodded at me about this yellow crystal,
telling me it was like the others we'd found beside the
dead bodies along the road. Anyone touching it to his
tongue would be utterly at peace, in a place of perfect
contentment with no hunger, no thirst, no desires.
Someone sucking a crystal like that wouldn't hear a
baby crying or the sound of their own stomach scream-
ing for food. Someone sucking on that dream would lie
there and die. And there were hundreds along the road
who had done just that - families, singletons, even
whole mounted troops, dead on the ground with the
horses still saddled and wandering. We'd found one
pile of small furry things which Queynt believed were
Shadowpeople, though the carrion birds had left little
enough to identify. All with yellow crystals in their
mouths, their hands, or on thongs around their necks.
We hadn't found a single one on anyone still living.
When the grave was filled in, I pulled myself up on
the wagon seat again. Queynt nodded sympathetically