"Angus Wells - Exiles 01 - Exile's Children" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells Angus)

Racharran said, тАЬ Perhaps not; but peace between us shall.тАЭ
The morning of the wedding dawned fine. The sun lit the pinnacle of the MakerтАЩ s Mountain as if in
blessing, and when Morrhyn emerged from his lodge he perceived no ill omensтАФ save, perhaps, that he
had again dreamed of the fire-footed horse and its blank-eyed rider. Nor was he comforted by the
continued absence of the Grannach, and as he bathed he cast his eyes toward the mountains, hoping all
the time to see the Stone Folk coming.
He was disappointed, and struggled to shake off pessimism as he returned to his tent to dress in his finest
buckskins, readying for the ceremony.
Such affairs were conducted simply by the People, though the Commacht lodges and, to a lesser extent,
those of all their neighbors, were abustle as the time approached. Usually, RannachтАЩ s chosen man would
have gone amongst the Tachyn to summon forth the bride and present her suitor, then lead them back to
the groomтАЩ s clan, but now that Nemeth and Zeil were taken into the Commacht, Bakaan went to their tent
and called that they come out.
Rannach stood behind him. His hair was woven in the warriorтАЩ s braids and his wedding clothes shone
with beadwork bright as his eyes. Three times Bakaan called, and at the third cry Nemeth and Zeil threw
back the flap and led their daughter out. Arrhyna wore pale deerskin, bracelets of Grannach work glinting
on her wrists, little combs of the Stone FolkтАЩ s precious silver glittering in her fiery hair. Bakaan took her
hand and brought her to where Rannach stood, then motioned that they follow him to the cleared center of
the Commacht encampment.
Morrhyn waited there, with Racharran and Lhyn, and as the procession drew near he was reminded of
their wedding. Gahyth had presided then, and he had stood behind the aging Dreamer, fighting to curb his
envy that his closest friend won the woman he loved. He had thought such memories long buried, but as
Rannach and Arrhyna approached, he felt them rise anew, and must fight down the same sense of loss.
He hid behind a wakanishaтАЩ s gravity as he motioned the pair kneel and raised the sacred rattle over their
heads.
The crowd fell silent as he intoned the ritual and the couple gave back their responses. He touched them
both with the rattle, asking that the Maker regard them with favor, and it was done. Racharran led out a
piebald mare, her coat brushed to gleaming smoothness, and saw Arrhyna mounted; Lhyn brought her
sonтАЩ s favorite horse. Then Morrhyn gestured that they follow him, the parents falling into step behind the
bridal pair as the wakanisha led them amongst the Commacht lodges and then on in a wide circuit of the
Meeting Ground, through ill the encampments.
As they passed, he proclaimed the traditional words: тАЬ Let the People see these two are wed. Let the
People ask the Maker bless them.тАЭ But as they went by the Tachyn lodges he was unpleasantly aware of
the muted responseтАФ even more of HadduthтАЩ s unsmiling visage, the wakanishaтАЩ s lips moving silently in
what might have been either agreement or curse. Few there came out to follow the procession, and of
Chakthi or Vachyr there was no sign. It was a relief, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, to go
amongst the Lakanti, and after them the Aparhaso and the Naiche, where folk shouted joyously and came
trotting behind calling greetings and good wishes, laughing as they showered the bridal pair with dried
petals and sweet-scented herbs.
Bakaan and those other warriors closest to Rannach had erected a lodge for the pair, set apart from the
others on the edge of the Commacht camp, close by the MakerтАЩ s Mountain, that their first nights together
be spent close under the watch of the Maker and they have privacy. There they would remain until the
Matakwa was ended and they pitched their lodge with the other married folk. Looking at their smiling
faces, Morrhyn thought they had sooner go there immediately, but first they must partake of the feast.
That was ready on their return, the guests trailing them in a great laughing crowd: a marriage made at
Matakwa was considered most lucky. And perhaps it is, Morrhyn thought as he watched the informal
celebration commence. But like a blade, luck has two sides, and he wondered should that luck be good or
bad.
He found a place at RacharranтАЩ s side, where the most favored guests sat. Lhyn was on her husbandтАЩ s
left, next to Nemeth and Zeil, with Rannach and their daughter; Juh and Yazte and Tahdase were there,