"John Dalmas - Yngling 3 - The Circle of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

Occasionally, absently, he squashed mosquitoes on his face with his left hand.
The thump of an insect-hunting nighthawk braking overhead did not catch his
attention. He was engrossed in the dispute before the council, aiming his
recorder at whoever was speaking, capturing their words and image.
Jäävklo,* chief of the Glutton Clan, got to
his feet. He was wide-framed, with remarkably muscular arms, his muscles more
ropy than bulky. His face was creased, but at fifty feet by firelight, his
black hair seemed ungrayed, and the skin on his arms, shoulders and neck was
still tight. Baver guessed his age at between forty and forty-five.
Jäävklo spoke loudly, that the throng of
northmen could hear, the hundreds who squatted unseen on the slope above the
council fire. “Here is my answer to Ulf Varjsson of the Wolf Clan,” he said.
“In the Homeland, we of the Glutton** Clan had the poorest territory of all
the Svear. It was poorest to start with, and as the world grew colder, it
became impossible to feed ourselves adequately. Nor would the Reindeer Clan or
the Salmon Clan adjust their boundaries with us. When we brought it up in
council, Axel Stornäve refused to require it of them. There was bad blood
between the two of us, Axel and me, and so he refused.
“Now the tribes have come to a new land, and
possessed it, dividing it, each clan marking its own. The Glutton Clan has
built cairns at their corners, and other cairns at needful places, according
to the agreement among the tribes. Yet here at the ting, we find the Wolf
people complaining that we encroach on them! We encroach on no one! We have
done all things according to the agreement!”
He looked around the circle scowling, then
squatted down again in the place that was his.
Nils Järnhann got up then, a huge, muscular
young man only twenty-two years old, scarred on legs, face, and shoulder. His
eyes were sky-blue glass, crafted by a machinist aboard the jump ship
Phaeacia. They fitted properly but were conspicuously artificial, and around
them the sockets were sunken. He turned his face to Jäävklo as if the glass
eyes saw. He was lagman of the People -- reciter and interpreter of the Law
and arbiter of disputes, who also presided when crimes were brought before the
council.
“And the corners are on the tails of two
ridges?” he asked. His voice seemed quieter than Jäävklo’s, and mild, but it
could be heard clearly by the tribesmen highest on the slope.
Jäävklo answered without rising. “They are.”
“Can the tail of one ridge be seen from the
other?”
“Distantly, yes.”
The lagman’s wide mouth pursed briefly before
he spoke. “The complaint of Ulf Varjsson, chief of the Wolves, has been heard,
and also its denial by Jäävklo, chief of the Gluttons. The corners are not in
dispute, but only the line on the plain. Here is how the dispute will be
resolved: The Bull Clan of the Jötar and the Seal Clan of the Norskar will
each provide four warriors to examine the disputed line. Tomorrow they will go
to it, two days ride from here. There they will have a pyre built at each of
the two corners. These pyres will be very large, so that in the dark, each
fire can be clearly seen from the other. Freemen, as many as the eight