"Dave Duncan - The Seventh Sword - 2 - The Coming Of Wisdom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

Shonsu. I remember nothing of his life before I woke up in the pilgrim cottage
with Jja tending me and old Honakura babbling about my doing a fast murder for
him. Before mat, as far as I recall, I was Wallie Smith,"
He did not try to explain language, how he thought in English and spoke in the



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language of the People. Nnanji would not be able to comprehend the idea of more
than one language, and Wallie himself did not know how the translation worked.
"And you were not a swordsman in the other world, my lord?"
Manager of a petrochemical plant? How did one explain that to an iron-age
warrior in a preliterate World? Wallie sighed. "No, I wasn't. Our crafts and
ranks were different. As near as I can tell you, I was an apothecary of the
Fifth."
Nnanji shuddered and bit his lip.
But there had been Detective Inspector Smith, who would have been so horrified
by his murdering, idol-worshiping, slave-owning son. "My father was a
swordsman."
Nnanji sighed in relief. The Goddess was not as fickle as he had feared.
"And you were a man of honor, my lord?"
Yes, Wallie thought. He had been law-abiding, and a decent sort of guy, honest
and conscientious. "I think so. I tried to be, as I try here. Some of our ways
were different. I did my best, and 1 promised the god that I would do my best
here also."
Nnanji managed a faint smile.
"But when the reeve of the temple guard claimed that I was
DAVE DUNCAN
25
an imposter, he was correct. I did not know the salutes and responses. I did not
know one end of a sword from the other."
Nnanji spluttered. "But—but you know the rituals, my lord! You are a great
swordsman!"
"That came later/' Wallie said, and went on to relate how he had met the demigod
three times, how he had managed to rind belief in the gods, and how he had then
been given Sbonsu's skill, the legendary sword, the unknown mission. "The god
gave me the ability to use a sword, he gave me the surras. But he gave me none
of Shonsu's private memories at all, Nnanji. I don't know who his parents were,
or where he came from, or who taught him. On those things, I am still Wallie
Smith."
"And you nave no parentmarks!"
"I have one now." He showed Nnanji the sword that had appeared on his right
eyelid the previous night, the sign of a swordsman father. "It wasn't there
yesterday morning. I think it is a sort of joke by the little god, or perhaps a
sign that he approves of what we did yesterday."
Nnanji said he liked the second possibility better. The idea that gods might
play jokes did not appeal to him.
They reached the landward end of the jetty and turned to pace Riverward again.