"Терри Гудкайн. Восьмое правило волшебника, или Обнаженная Империя(engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

surprise half brother lying dead back there, kind of diverted our attention
when he tried to kill us." Richard unhooked a waterskin from his belt. "But
the races are still watching us."
He handed Kahlan his waterskin, since she had left hers hanging on her
saddle. It had been hours since they had last stopped. She was tired from
riding and weary from walking when they had needed to rest the horses.
Kahlan lifted the waterskin to her lips only to be reacquainted with
how bad hot water tasted. At least they had water. Without water, death came
quickly in the unrelenting heat of the seemingly endless, barren expanse
around the forsaken place called the Pillars of Creation.
Jennsen slipped the strap of her waterskin off her shoulder before
hesitantly starting again. "I know it's easy to misconstrue things. Look at
how I was tricked into thinking you wanted to kill me just like Darken Rahl
had. I really believed it, and there were so many things that seemed to me
to prove it, but I had it all wrong. I guess I was just so afraid it was
true, I believed it."
Richard and Kahlan both knew it hadn't been Jennsen's doing--she had
merely been a means for others to get at Richard--but it had squandered
precious time.
Jennsen took a long drink. Still grimacing at the taste of the water,
she lifted the waterskin toward the empty desert behind them. "I mean, there
isn't much alive out here--it might actually be that the races are hungry
and are simply waiting to see if you die out here and, because they do keep
watching and waiting, you've begun to think it's more." she gave Richard a
demure glance, bolstered by a smile, as if hoping to-cloak the admonishment
as a suggestion. "Maybe that's all it really is."
"They aren't waiting to see if we die out here," Kahlan said, wanting
to end the discussion so they could eat and Richard could get some sleep.
"They were watching us before we had to come here. They've been watching us
since we were back in the forests to the northeast. Vow, let's have some
supper and--"
"But why? That's not the way birds behave. Why would they do that?"
"I think they're keeping track of us for someone," Richard said. "More
precisely, I think someone is using them to hunt us."
Kahlan had known various people in the Midlands, from simple people
living in the wilds to nobles living in great cities, who hunted with
falcons. This, though, was different. Even if she didn't fully understand
Richard's meaning, much less the reasons for his conviction, she knew he
hadn't meant it in the traditional sense.
With abrupt realization, Jennsen paused in the middle of another drink.
"That's why you've started scattering pebbles along the windblown places in
the trail."
Richard smiled in confirmation. He took his waterskin when Kahlan
handed it back. Cara frowned up at him as he took a long drink.
"You've been throwing pebbles along the trail? Why?"
Jennsen eagerly answered in his place. "The open rock gets blown clean
by the wind. He's been making sure that if anyone tries to sneak up on us in
the dark, the pebbles strewn across those open patches will crunch underfoot
and alert us."
Cara wrinkled a questioning brow at Richard. "Really?"